Azeroth comes to Remnant
by cengland
Summary: A team of Azerothian heroes are diverted from going back to the before the shattering of Draenor to Remnant to prevent a world falling to Darkness. A world which has never felt the touch of the Fel. Disclaimer: I do not own either RT or Blizzard characters that may be used/mentioned.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One - The Gate**

"Ok, we've got instructions from the king, transportation to the Blasted Lands and a sense of adventure in the name of The Light" said Kashaahri, "Is there anything else we need?"

Everyone looked to Emielice who shook her head and signed "Not as far as I know but I've probably forgotten something"

"Well, you've packed extra gold just in case?"

Emielice nodded.

"Ok then. Prepared as we can be so let's go."

They all mounted and flew to the Mage Tower where the portal, maintained by the mages, would take them through to the Blasted Lands and the Gate to Draenor. Lessons over the years that they'd been together had taught them caution and so they'd developed an order for them to pass through portals: Their paladin, mage, shaman, priest, and last would be their warlock. The Kashaahri and Allarae could bring any situation under control rapidly, Daalorisa could start healing and then Elanna could either heal or deal damage depending on what was needed. Emielice, with the flexibility of her demons, could take in the situation whatever the situation was and react appropriately. It was a system that they all knew and practised and it had saved their lives on a number of occasions.

Arriving at the portal in the Blasted Lands, Emielice found the site in an uproar but the important thing was the call of "Demon" from Kashaahri. She immediately went onto the defensive, commanding her demon to follow her lead.

Looking around it was obvious that the demon had been there for a while. Damage had been done to the camp and many of the soldiers were down. The camp was in chaos and a massive demon was running rampant through it, barely even being slowed down by the efforts of the soldiers many of whom were still trying to grasp the nature of the attack upon them.

That chaos came to an end when Kashaahri's thrown shield struck the demon and her taunt rolled out across the battlefield bringing a short lull to the battle taking place as the demon stopped and turned to look at her.

"Eredar" Kashaahri called again, scorn dripping from every syllable, as her Judgement crashed into the demon.

The demon spun towards her and snarled "Dranei, I shall enjoy ripping you limb from limb. To tear your still beating heart out of your chest" and, with the last word, charged towards the waiting paladin.

The two came together in a resounding crash as the demon slammed into the paladin's shield. Despite the demon being at least twice as tall and several times the mass of Kashaahri she didn't move, simply absorbing the demon's momentum. Then her weapon went up as she called upon the Light and she struck the demon, knocking him back.

"Then you'll need to try harder, demon" and the light coalesced around her and flowed down into the ground, Consecrating it and burning the demon whenever he touched it.

The demon screamed in rage and struck out, only for his weapon to meet Kashaahri's shield and her sword to smash his chest once more. The Frostbolt from Allaraelanna and Shadow damage from Elanna went almost unnoticed by the demon. Emielice threw on an Immolate and then turned and tapped Daalorisa on the shoulder, nodded to a young soldier and then turned back to the battle.

Daalorisa looked at her and then at the soldier "Tell your captain to pull his men back, we've got this"

The young soldier looked at her, confused, and then the note of command got through and she snapped to attention "Yes ma'am" and took off.

Daalorisa turned back to the fight and threw a small heal on Kashaahri. Unless the demon pulled something other than unthinking rage out this fight was over - it was just a matter of time. Looking around she noted that the young soldier had reached someone in authority who was now pulling the soldiers back from the fight and organising help for the injured. To assist with moving the soldiers out of the way she directed some of healing abilities towards a few of the wounded. It wasn't much but it allowed the soldiers to move more rapidly.

Seeing to the soldier's injuries and preparing the dead for return to Stormwind lasted until after dark. Once that had finished and the camp had settled down some the team were called to the captain's tent.

The captain looked at the adventurers, considering their unperturbed expressions of patient waiting. 'Hmmph' he thought, 'they've done this before and rank doesn't impress them.' Out loud he said "I'm going to start by thanking you for dealing with that monstrosity and the help that your healers have given the men since."

"It looks" said Elanna "like we were simply in the right place at the right time and dealing with demons is in our job description."

"Still, I'm thankful for the assistance that you've given since you've arrived." They nodded, accepting the thanks given "Right, well now that the niceties are out of the way is there anything I can do for you?"

"Could you tell us what happened? We were here to join Kadgar and the people he was taking through to Draenor." asked Kashaahri "Kadgar has obviously gone through the portal with those adventurers else you wouldn't have been having so much difficulty with that demon."

The captain considered for a moment and then said "There was a short lull in the orcs coming through the gate and Kadgar decided that they had to take the chance that had been presented and go through. They went through and the orcs stopped coming. We took advantage of the quiet time and started cleaning up, looking after the wounded while still keeping on alert. After a few hours, the gate closed. We don't know what happened but there was a sound of an almighty explosion that came through just before the gate collapsed. We assume that Kadgar and his team did something to forcibly close the gate from the other side. After that we stepped down from full alert. I figured that if the gate opened again we'd have time to assemble and be ready before anyone came through. That was yesterday. That demon appeared only minutes before you did, he appeared directly upon the gate platform and the gate opened behind him."

"That would be why you were unprepared."

The captain nodded and continued "He declared himself the 'Gate Lord', that we were unworthy and attacked a group of my men scattering them and doing damage to the camp. That's when you turned up and turned the tables for us. I've had people watching the gate since and although it's open it doesn't appear to be… operating in the same manner as the old gate. The watchers say that it's darker and flickering but can't really say anything more than that. Although experienced scouts they're not mages so if you want more information on that then you're either going to have to get it yourself or wait until we can get a team from Stormwind here to investigate it."

"We only got our marching orders from the king this morning and yet you say that Kadgar went through yesterday? Did you send anyone to inform the king?"

"Yes, I did. Sent another through the portal when the gate collapsed as well. For you to be sent this morning would indicate that my messengers didn't get through but they came back within a few minutes after having left reporting message received and that we were to maintain our position. I can't think of why you'd be sent after that."

There was a considered quiet for a few moments while everyone thought about what the captain had said when Allarae said "There is another possibility" and went quiet again.

"Well" said Daalorisa "Don't keep us waiting".

Allarae glanced to Daal, smiling at her impatience, then said "The gate was not just a portal between worlds but also between times taking whoever went through to the time before Draenor shattered. With its collapse, especially if it was forcefully collapsed, that time flux may have rebound and affected other portals around it."

"So, what you're saying is…?"

"That the portal not only brought us from Stormwind to here but also from yesterday to today."

"But my messengers got through without any difficulty"

"Yes, I would assume that they used the portal at a time outside of the effect whereas we stepped into the portal at or near the time of the gates' collapse. It's even possible that we came out at this time because of the Gate Lord's opening of the new gate."

"And what would have happened if he hadn't opened the new gate?" asked Kashaahri

"We may have been trapped in the portal for all time or we may have ended up in some other random place and time. It's hard to say without more information."

"Not a pleasant thought either way but we're here now."

"We're here now at the time and place that we needed to be" said Elanna "and the gate's still open."

The captain looked to her and then back to Kashaahri and asked "What are you going to do now?"

She looked around at the others in the team "We're going to need to discuss that. Do you have a tent we could use for the night?"

"Yes, of course. I'll assign someone to see to your needs."

"Then we'll say good night and we'll see you in the morning."

"Going through that gate is why we came here" said Elanna

"We must go through" signed Emielice

The team looked to their leader who pursed her lips "And you Alla? Daal?"

The two asked looked at each other and Daal nodded assent. The Night Elf turned to Kashaahri and said "We, too, feel that we should go through".

"You do realise that there's almost no chance that we're going to end up on Draenor at any time and that there won't be any way back?"

They all nodded at her, letting her make the final decision. They were a team and either they'd all go or they'd all stay. The leader pursed her lips again and then said.

"Then get packed. We leave first thing in the morning. I know that you've all made arrangements with your folks if you don't return but it's probably worth writing to them now, letting them know what's happening. We'll give them to the captain to deliver before we leave."

—

Most of the soldiers had found an excuse this morning to be near the gate. All of them looked on the weirdly flickering gate with foreboding. And all of them were there to watch the adventurers that had saved them walk into it.

"Do you think they'll be back sir?"

The captain looked to the young private who'd asked, recognising her as the one who had brought the message from the adventurers the day before. The message that had both brought relief and hope as it allowed him to get his men out of the meat grinder that had descended upon them so unexpectedly.

"No, private, I don't." He looked back to the gate "And I'm sure that they understand that as well as I do." He said as he fingered the five letters that the private herself had delivered to him that morning.

They looked on as the five, holding hands, stepped through the gate as one. Moments later the gate died.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two - Arrival on Remnant**

The five came out in open air. Their fright was short lived though as they splashed down in deep pool of clear, cold water. After pulling herself back to the surface Kashaahri called out "Is everyone Ok?" more to find out if everyone was here than if they'd been hurt by the surprise dousing.

After hearing three mumbled affirmatives and a chuckle she spun round to find Daalorisa standing calmly upon the surface of the water wearing a grin.

"Damned shaman" she said with a mock scolding expression.

Daalorisa grinned even more but stepped forward and, casting once more, helped their leader out of the water.

"Considering that you work with the Light, why are you so heavy?"

Kashaahri glared at her "It's the armour as you well know" she growled but Daalorisa just chuckled again and moved on to help their warlock out of the water. In the meanwhile, Elanna cast her own spells lifting both herself and Allarae above the water.

"Well, we're here - wherever here is." She looked around "I suggest that we set up a small camp over there" Kashaahri said pointing to one side of the pool where there was a flat space "check our supplies and look to see what sort of sense we can make of this world". Pointing towards the sun that was just above the horizon "We need to know if that's rising or setting."

"First" said Elanna while she searched through her bags "I believe we should give thanks for our safe arrival here" and showed them the largish white stone that she had pulled out. They looked at her and, after a short time, nodded.

"Right, don't leave the water… actually, stay where you are". She shifted into her full wolven form and, lifting the stone above her head while facing the strange sun sung out an ancient song of praise for Elune, her deep voice picked up and directed out over the forest below by the steep walls surrounding the pool that they stood upon. While she sung silence seemed to settle over the landscape. After she finished the local wolves raised their own voices in both recognition of one of their own and the message that she'd sung.

After finishing her song, the priest knelt down and placed the stone into the water and let it go. They all watched as it lighted its way down into the dark depths of the pool, coming to rest in a deep cleft at the bottom, its light still visible.

After a short pause, they all turned as one and moved to the shore in the lengthening shadows of the setting sun. As they walked Elanna felt the growing presence of moonlight upon her and, with a smile, turned to look behind them. Her shocked gasp drew the attention of the others and they too looked up to where a shattered moon was rising above the peak of the mountain.

"Oh, Mother Moon"

Kashaahri wasn't sure who said it, it may even have been her, but it reflected her own shock at the sight of the shattered moon above them. Then she looked down into the pool again, saw the glowing rock that Elanna had dropped in after her small ritual. She got the attention of the others and pointed down, noting from their expressions that they understood her message.

Yes, there were troubles but the Light was still with them, there was still hope.

—

The team stood around looking at the pile of bones that Emielice had called forth from her stables.

"That was unexpected" said Kashaahri as Allarae bent to inspect the bones. "Which mount did call forth?"

"My Icebound Vanquisher. It was fine last time I used it."

"Allarae?"

"The magic seems to have solidified" she said furrowing her brows "The Scourge are connected in some mystical fashion to the Lich King and cannot survive without that connection. Even the Death Knights are still bound to him even though they've got their free will back." She thought a bit more before continuing "To me it looks like the Lich King's influence doesn't extend here and so the dragons spirit has gone leaving only its bones and the magic that once held them together." She picked up one of the bones and showed the now translucent bone to the others "This isn't just bone but also solid mana."

"I didn't know that mana could take on solid form."

"Oh, sure. Several years ago, mages used to create such solid form mana to use as an emergency source when they were low. We've developed better regen techniques since then and so it's not used anymore." She paused "I'd say that this is going to apply to all of our undead mounts and pets here. I'll look for a way to check our stables and see if they've all gone this way. For now, we should just use our living mounts which don't seem to be having any problems." She pointed to Kashaahri's Cloud Serpent which was floating behind her.

Everybody looked towards the three living flying mounts that were peacefully waiting for their riders to mount.

"Any suggestions on what to do with the bones? Bury them? Cremate them?"

"Do not cremate them" Allarae looked horrified at the suggestion "You'll blow up the whole mountain. We could probably bury them but I don't think that's a good idea."

"Then what should we do?"

"Take them with us." The others looked sceptical "Look, that magic crystallised really fast with no intervention from us or anyone else. This suggests to me that this is the most common form of mana on this world which suggests that the people here probably use it to power their own magics…"

A look of understanding crossed Kashaahri's face "Ah, which means that it's likely to be a valuable trade item here. Will it fit in our bags?"

"Sure, with a little bit of compacting it should easily fit into either my jewel-crafting bag or Emie's enchanting one" and, putting words into action, cast a spell to do just that. "We're going to have to experiment with this to see if it's best for enchantments, gems or instant use. Talking to some of the locals, once we find some, will help with that."

—

As Emielice and Allarae packed the bones into their bags the others looked out over the forest, looking for signs of habitation.

"There's some smoke over there" said Elanna "Could be a village."

Kashaahri looked "That's a lot of smoke. The only time I know of when a village puts out that much smoke is when it's burning."

"Could be a forest fire" said Daalorisa "Either way, we should head that way" Kashaahri raised an eyebrow "If it's a village we can help and such help would likely be appreciated making the villagers less likely to shoot at us while if it's a forest fire I may be able to ask it to calm down."

"Calm down?"

"Maybe."

"And if you can't?"

"Then we should probably leave it alone. Forest fires tend to be wild and don't like being told what to do."

"Sounds good to me" said Allarae as she came in range of the conversation "We have to find the people here and find out what's going on, discover why Elune brought us here."

Kashaahri looked at the agreement upon the faces around her. "Ok then, are we packed?" They all looked around one last time and then mounted "Right, lets fly"

—

As they got closer to the smoke it resolved into a walled village of a reasonable size. They could make out a clearing that extended out from the wall by about double bow range and the town itself had a central town square, a town hall and a number of well laid out streets where well built and maintained houses stood. Farmed fields spread out on the far side of the town but there didn't appear to be any houses out there.

The town was presently under attack by what looked like black wolves that were streaming out of the forest and heading for the breached southern gate. Although the villagers were presently holding back the swarm of black bodies it was obvious that they wouldn't be able to hold out much longer.

Kashaahri looked at the patterns and quickly found what she was looking for. Although the swarm would have looked random and undirected from the ground, her position high above allowed her to see the metronome precision of the surges against the villagers and the side attacks that were diversions from those surges used to draw people away from the main attack. Once she was certain that the attack was being directed she then looked for where it was being directed from.

In the back of the swarm, close to the tree line stood another wolf-like creature that stood on two legs. Larger than the rest it would stand taller than Kashaahri herself but not so large as the demon that they'd faced at the gate on Azeroth. She drew the attention of the others and pointed.

"I go down, get that beasts attention and hopefully draw some of those attacking the township from its gate. I don't think the leader will be too much problem but when all those others turn on us it could get nasty. Choose your time and place to land carefully."

With that she pointed her serpent at the leader, went to full speed and dismissed her mount. Angling her body, she used subtle shifts to guide her as close to the beast as possible. Casting Blessing of Protection just before impact with the ground she came to a stop just metres in front of her target.

The ground shook when she landed causing all the nearby beasts to stop what they were doing and turn towards her. Standing up straight and, brandishing her shield and sword, she Taunted the leader that stood before her.

—

The Alpha-wolf was quite pleased with how well the attack on the town was going. The lesser wolves obeyed without question, scrabbling to implement his commands for both the diversions and the main attack. Then a human appeared in front of him wielding weapons. His lips curled up in a feral grin as a snarl of rage rumbled in his chest. Not thinking about how the human had gotten there but only how, even on this day of his success as a leader of Beowolves, he would get to do some killing after all.

He lunged forward, his left paw and claws extended, intending to remove the sword from the human's hand. Surprise was total as first his claw and then his body slammed up against an invisible force that surrounded the human. Angered at his easy kill being denied him he struck out again to once more be blocked by the invisible force that surrounded the puny human.

"Kill" his rage at being so denied was palpable and some of his lieutenant's drew back from him until his command to kill overrode their fear enough to force them to attack the human. Still angered he sent out even to the lesser wolves that were attacking the town "Kill HER".

And then the human's sword cut into his chest, her shield slammed into him from the side knocking him further off balance and then the sword returned and removed his head. The Alpha's lieutenant's had started moving forward at the Alpha's command to kill and then paused as their Alpha went down but the command of the Alpha was still dominant and they surged forward once more. That pause though was fatal as the paladin gathered herself and sent her shield flying to her left smashing through the three larger beasts there and killing them instantly. Swinging back to her right she brought her sword up, blocking an attack from the largest beast and casting her Hammer on the second one, stunning it. Catching her shield as it returned she blocked the larger beast again and then struck with her sword piercing its chest. As it went down she looked round to ensure there were no other threats to her and then casually backhanded the one that was still stunned with her sword.

Kashaahri then turned and strode towards the town looking for any good place to stand against the oncoming hoard of beasts but it was an open field and the beasts could attack from any direction. Still, the tactics that had been there when they were attacking the town seemed to have gone with the death of the Alpha and now it was but a mindless stampede with a few of the larger beasts breaking off and high tailing it back into the forest. Looking up she waved the rest of her team down and to get behind her.

—

The lesser of the Beowolves, compelled by the last command of the Alpha-wolf, flowed as a great, dark wave toward the waiting paladin.

—

Up above Daalorisa was watching the fight closely, looking for the moment when it would be most propitious to enter the fight. She saw the shift in the black wave that was washing upon the town as it first started to move towards Kashaahri and then break apart into scattered groups and incoherence as the leaders went down. Watched as Kashaahri walked towards town, looking around her, seeing as she looked up and signalled.

"That would seem to be our queue"

The four flew down, landing with Kashaahri between them and the town and waited for the approaching horde to get in range. They were a well experienced team and had done this type of fight many times before.

Kashaahri led, her shield and other long range spells slamming out into the oncoming wave of beasts killing and maiming. Her taunts calling them to her and, as they got close, her Consecrate doing more damage and fixating the beasts attention upon her.

And into that maelstrom of crushing bodies, of death and pain came fire, ice and darkness as the three damage dealers added their own form of destruction into the mix. Behind even them Daalorisa called upon the Elements for succour and healing of her team mates. They died by the dozens but still they came on, driven by the command of the dead Alpha.

—

Even as the beasts rushed towards the adventurers more of them paused and broke away at the sight of slaughter in front of them. Their fear of the five humans overcoming their fear of the Alpha and thus breaking the hold of his command.

—

After the fight was finished they stood around for a short time in Daal's Healing Rain, checking that each other was alright and storing weapons back on their belts.

"What do you think they were?" asked Elanna

"I don't know" said Ahri "We've certainly had our share of conflicts with demons, ghosts and elementals that dissipate after death as these did but they did not seem to be any of those."

Emielice tapped Ahri on her shoulder and then pointed to where she had one Banished.

"So it is a demon?"

Emielice shook her head and signed "Can Banish, cannot Enslave"

They all looked at the black beast taking in its red, glowing eyes and bone armour. Allarae shook her head and said "No, I've never read of anything like this in our texts. It looks like an animal but I don't think it is." She turned to Elanna "Do you have any insight to this?"

"No. I sense Darkness in it, as Emie probably does" Emielice nodded "but no animal or demon. I think the only way we're going to learn of these is by asking the locals"

At that point the beast came out of the Banishment and attacked Ahri who's sword had been waiting.

After that was done Kashaahri nodded towards the town where the townsfolk gathered and looking at them but not approaching.

"And it looks like it's time we should go meet them"

"I suggest we walk" said Allarae "and don't make any threatening moves"

"Aye" said Ahri "They're still on edge from the battle and may take anything we do as hostile."

—

Janus swung again, gutting the Beowulf in front of him and then pulled back into the defensive line that the villagers held ready for the next attack only to be surprised that the pack of Beowulf's were trying to pull back but the press behind them was preventing them. He stepped forward into the widening gap and struck out, thrusting his sword through the ribs of a grimm killing it instantly. Others did the same along the line but the command voice of the mayor rung out telling them to hold the line, to be prepared just in case the grimm turned and attacked again.

With the pressure of the attack gone he balanced his sword against his leg and stretched, trying to refresh tired muscles. As he did so he looked up and…

"What the hell are those?"

He looked around to see if anyone would answer but most were now just staring at the flying monsters and weren't paying any attention to him or anything else. Then, from out of the crowd he heard

"There's people on them."

He quickly looked back but only just in time to see them dive down and vanish. It was hard to see over the mass of retreating grimm but he was sure that the grimm were attacking the people who had landed - if they were people.

"Look" someone else on the line said "The grimm are leaving" and everyone cheered

"Keep your guard up" The mayor yelled "We don't know if we're out of the woods yet"

"Sir, they've pulled the grimm off of us. Surely we can take it that they're friendly"

"The enemy of our enemy isn't necessarily our friend - as we found out this morning when those bandits attacked and the grimm could turn and attack again."

Janus considered this to be usually good advice but he was an old Hunter and so was experienced with aura and he wasn't getting any bad feelings from them.

The field continued to empty of grimm either because they were leaving, as more and more seemed to be doing, or because they were being slaughtered in job lots. It was becoming easier to see what was happening across the field now, how five humanoids were attacking the grimm.

"Is that fire that they're using?" he asked

"And lightning" another added

"Magic"

Everyone turned to the speaker.

"Magic doesn't exist" said the mayor "Just a myth like the Maidens."

"Then you explain how they pulled fire from the sky that didn't burn the ground."

Everyone turned back to the sight of fire falling from the sky and only burning the grimm and silence reigned.

—

Sapphire too had pulled back from the fight when the grimm had turned away but she had been aware of the newcomers as they'd passed overhead. It had been hard not to look away from the fight as they had done so because the magical pressure from them had been immense. She'd never felt such strong magical power before.

As the silence stretched there came a startled cry and an oath from near the wall.

Looking that way she saw the ghost first and then looked to the ground at the body of the fallen faunus. She started forward, pushing people aside "Let me through, I have medic training and may be able to help."

People stepped aside for her but when she got to the body the one who had found her turned to her and shook his head "She's gone Hunter"

She looked down at the faunus and, when she looked up, was surprised to find the ghost staring at her. She'd been able to see ghosts since the day that the power of Winter had come to her but never before had they seemed to notice her. The ghost mouthed a single word to her "Murder" and then pointed to the mayor with a question in her eyes. She usually then used her power to help those ghosts to pass on to the next life and she wasn't sure how to proceed when the ghost asked her to 'solve' her murder.

"They're coming" yelled someone from the crowd.

The mayor, who had wandered over since the discovery of the body, looked towards the call and then towards the oncoming figures and then back to the body and a grimace came over his face "We'll have to deal with the faunus later. Janus?"

"Aye Rezil?"

Then he turned to her "and Hunter? Will you please join me and we'll go see what these… people want."

She nodded to him and then stepped in beside the old Hunter a few paces back from the mayor fully aware that the ghost walked beside her "What do you think?" she asked

Janus looked at her then "Well, I don't get a sense of darkness the way I do from the grimm but, other than that, couldn't say until I know more."

She moved closer to him and in a quiet voice "And the mayor?"

He looked at her, eyebrow raised in question "That faunus wasn't killed by the grimm but by a knife to the heart" she looked at him "The mayor's blade has blood on it and there's blood on his hands and shirt."

The old hunter drew a quick breath and then looked to confirm what the young Hunter had said. There could be an innocent reason for the blood on his hands and shirt but not for the blade as the grimm dissipated after death. He looked to Sapphire and nodded to her.

They walked on in silence after that each in their own thoughts. Sapphire kept an eye on the ghost out of the corner of her eye. The ghost caught her once and smiled but didn't say anything. The mayor would have to be dealt with later but other things needed to be dealt with now.

—

As Rezil walked towards the newcomers he tried to size them up. Three were taller than the other two, and probably taller than him, but there was something wrong with how two of them walked... He drew a quick breath and couldn't stop the sneer that crossed his face as he realised that those two had horns "Faunus" he cursed under his breath glad that the two hunters were behind him and couldn't see his reaction.

He stopped and looked back to the other two "I think this is far enough. Far enough out to show trust in them but also close enough for support from the town if they prove… belligerent."

"I don't think that they'd save the town to only turn around and attack it." said Sapphire

"I'd normally agree, Hunter, but after the attack by the bandits this morning my trust in the goodness of others is running thin."

"Aye" agreed Janus "Something to that." He grounded the point his sword in front of him, ready for action if needed.

"Two humans and some faunus" said Rezil "Wonder what they're doing travelling together."

Sapphire felt her eyes widen at the hatred and anger she heard in the mayor's voice but was able to prevent herself from expressing the impulsive look of shock that she felt trying to paste itself on her face. Feeling eyes upon her she glanced towards the ghost.

"He hates faunus with a passion." she spat.

—

"Three living humans and a ghost" said Allarae "Strange greeting group."

Kashaahri looked at her and then back to the approaching group and shrugged "Obviously, a leader with two fighters for protection. The ghost could be an ancestor acting as an adviser."

"I don't think that the ghost is part of the group." said Elanna

"What makes you say that?"

"The body language of the males. They're talking to the female fighter but not the ghost. It's as if they don't know that she's there. The female does but is trying not to show it as if it's a secret."

"Perhaps it is." Said Allarae "She's the only one that has a feeling of magic capability about her and there was no magic used in the defence of the town."

"Aye. We may have to tread carefully here considering." Kashaahri said as she caught the sneer of the leader of the group approaching "I think there may be some other difficulty as well. That leader doesn't seem to like us."

"And I think that ghost is newly made" said Elanna

—

The two groups stood for a while, trying to take the measure of the others.

Rezil was distinctly aware of the height difference of the women who confronted him. Even the two shorter ones matched could easily look him in the eyes. And the eyes of the three in front of him were shocking. They glowed - no irises, no pupils just a soft golden glow. With a voice filled with condescension he asked "What do you want?"

Kashaahri, realising the problem, asked in a mild voice _"Do you speak Common?"_

Rezil glanced at the two Hunters "Do you recognise that?" and the two shook their heads.

" _Do you speak Draenei?"_ and the three townsfolk shook their heads.

" _Do you speak Elven?"_ asked Allarae

" _Do you speak High Elven?"_ her team members glanced at her "What? It's not that much different from Night Elven and we used to be close to our brethren"

" _How many millennia ago was that?"_ signed Emielice with a smile then turned to the other group _"Can you sign?"_

Rezil's face was turning purple with anger as he thought that they were having him on and he was about to let them have it when Janus placed a hand upon his arm "I don't know the languages or where they're from but they do seem to be trying to communicate."

"And just where in this world doesn't speak the common tongue?" Rezil demanded

Sapphire was pulled from her rising concern for the worsening situation as the mayors rising anger threatened to plunge them all into violence when the ghost beside her spoke _"You're not from here?"_ She spun towards the ghost distantly recognising that doing so was not the way to keep her identity hidden… and that all five of the new comers also turned towards her.

" _No, we're not Ancestor."_ said Kashaahri

" _Ancestor? Huh, that's my body over there. Never did get round to having any children."_ she said as she pointed over her shoulder with anger on her face and in her voice as she glared at the mayor.

Kashaahri looked towards the body and then back at the ghost, taking in the damage that still showed upon the ghost _"That looks like a knife wound…"_

" _It is."_ She pointed to Rezil, anger distorting her face _"His knife."_ And they turned towards the mayor with disdain upon their faces.

"Who are they talking to?" Rezil had only heard one side of the conversation but he didn't like the looks that were coming his way and he started reaching for his knife again.

Sapphire sighed and then drew herself up, looked directly at the mayor and said "The ghost of the girl you murdered."

Several things happened at once: Rezil got his hand on his dagger and started to draw it only to have it stopped as Janus clamped his hand around his wrist in an iron hard grip, Kashaahri's shield appeared on arm as she stepped between the mayor and Sapphire and then her mailed fist connected with the mayor's jaw. The snapping of bone as his jaw shattered could be heard back at the town gates.

"Seeing dead people? Is that your Semblance?" asked Janus as he lowered the now unconscious man down.

"A… part of it" she said looking down with a look of concern on her face. Janus nodded to her, a thoughtful expression on his face.

" _That's got to be some of the fastest justice a murdered girl's ever going to see."_ The ghost smiled _"My names Fawn by the way"_

" _Kashaahri."_

" _Why can I understand you? You're not speaking any language I ever heard."_

" _Benefits of being dead I suppose. Hopefully you'll still be able to once you're alive again."_ She smiled at Fawn _"Obviously going to be easier here with a translator."_

" _Alive? But?"_

Kashaahri turned and pointed to where dark magic was gathering around Emielice who looked up, smiled and then brought her hands together in a thunderous clap crushing the Soulstone that she held between them. There was a gasp from the gate as the body disappeared and then reappeared superimposed over the warlock until she shifted.

Fawn staggered, clutching her side from the residual pain of the stab wound that had killed her, she turned towards the new comers with a look of shock upon her face and smiled _"Welcome to Remnant"_ she said in perfect Azerothian Common.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three - Meetings**

Janus looked at the unconscious mayor on the ground and then around the other people surrounding him with his gaze settling upon the faunus. "We're going to have to talk. And then we're going to have to talk to the council."

Fawn looked to Kashaahri _"He said we're going to need to talk and then talk some more… to the council."_ Looking back to Janus she smiled impetuously "Told them"

Janus gave a snort of amusement at the casual attitude. If he'd just been brought back from the dead he'd probably be feeling on top of the world as well even through the pain that she was obviously still feeling. Then, as he watched, what looked like water splashed over her and she straightened up and spun to stare at one of the newcomers.

" _You can heal?"_ she demanded of the tall, horned chain-mail clad female.

" _Yes"_ smiled the female. Then her face took on a more serious, empathic countenance _"Your town has just been in a battle. We can help with the wounded if you'll show us where they are."_

Fawn turned back to Janus "They say that they can help with healing our wounded if we take them to them"

Janus considered this and then pointed at the unconscious mayor, looked into the glowing eyes of the horned female, and raised an eyebrow in question. She turned to the horned female that Fawn had spoken to and raised her own eyebrows.

She looked down, considered the request and then looked to Janus, making no move to heal the mayor _"Pain can be a great teacher."_

Fawn considered this and then told Janus "She said that the murdering scum can damn well wait."

Janus was sure that what the outsider had said wasn't quite that colourful but, seeing the anger upon the faunus' face, wasn't about to ask for a correction. Instead he turned and motioned to the towns two deputies to step over to him. "Cuff the mayor, get a stretcher and place him in a cell at the jail. He's going to need to answer some questions. And keep him cuffed and disarmed, it appears that he may have been using his semblance for not entirely innocent activities."

"What is the charge?" asked one officer

"Murder, he killed Fawn here."

"She looks to be alive, sir."

"But she was dead. In fact, it was you who pronounced her dead." He looked sternly at the officer "We'll get into the why's and how's later but the evidence we have is fairly conclusive."

The officer looked rebellious for a bit then "Aye sir, we'll do that then." But still obviously unhappy with having to arrest the mayor.

Janus saw the deputies off thinking "We're going to see trouble from those two. Both are strong friends of the mayor." Then motioned that the Azerothians, Winter and Fawn should follow him and then turned and started walking into town.

Kashaahri and Fawn stepped up beside him with the Draenei asking _"Where are we going?"_

Janus listened to the translation and said "To the medic area that we set up. We have some seriously wounded people that you can hopefully help with. After that I want to go to my inn and talk to you privately about where you're from and why you're here before I get the rest of the council in to talk to you as well."

" _We will, of course, do everything that we can for your wounded."_

They got stares from everyone at the gate as they passed through them, people whispering, questioning what they'd seen and what they saw "Smashed the mayor… Janus stands by them… So tall… What are they… Where are they from? They saved us."

" _I'm Kashaahri"_ placing her hand upon her chest then, pointing at each of her team members in turn _"Daalorisa, Allarae, Emielice, and Elanna."_

Janus nodded "Janus and that's Sapphire. You seem to know Fawn"

—

It was a straight walk of only a few minutes from the town gate to the town square. Daalorisa had, by then, managed to get herself to the front of the procession. Upon reaching the square she quickly took a few steps towards the tightly packed temporary covers and cots that had been set up as a makeshift first aid centre. Coming to a stop she hunched forward slightly, her hands coming together in front of her, water seeming to flare around her hands for a few seconds before she threw her hands and head back, as if releasing something from her.

Janus didn't see what but he did see the effect it had upon several of the wounded as many stopped in surprise and took their bandages off to reveal healed skin and bone.

Daalorisa looked around and then water flared from her hands again. Janus caught the blue circle upon the ground this time where a light rain seemed to fall with all those in it healing rapidly. Then light seemed to gather towards Daalorisa's feet for a couple of seconds before a white beam extended out to one person then arced to another, then another and then a fourth each healing as the light struck them.

Turning to Fawn Daalorisa smiled and said _"Done out here, I assume the more heavily wounded are inside?"_

Fawn nodded and started to lead the way into the clinic, still gawking at the now healed citizens which respectfully made way for the group.

Elanna stepped up next to Kashaahri _"This clinic seems larger than what I'd expect of a town this size."_

" _Forestry seems to be their main industry here so that would account for some of that but…"_ Kashaahri considered for a few seconds _"This is a walled village and we simply don't see that back on Azeroth as the world is more or less peaceful. Saw it more on Draenor because of the conflict between Draenei and Orcs as the Orcs prepared for their invasion of Azeroth. I think that those things we encountered outside would be the cause. Constant battles like the one that was going on when we arrived are going to require a larger medical capability."_

" _And they don't seem to have magic healing like we do either if their reactions to Daala's healing is anything to go by."_

" _Some of them seem to have some sort of personal healing capability but I think you're right in that they don't seem to be able to extend that into healing others."_

As they talked they'd continued walking through the clinic, watching as Daalorisa went into ward after, ward healing. They came to the end of one corridor with closed doors. Kashaahri looked through to see medics scrambling to save a man on the table. As she looked she could see the man's health declining rapidly and, acting almost instinctively, she crashed through the doors not even noticing that they'd been locked to prevent such and intrusion. One pace, two, left hand up to push a medic out of the way while her right hand came down onto the foot of the dying man and releasing her power into him, watching as his wounds closed instantly, as his health climbed back up to full. She took her hand off of him and, seeing as he hadn't wakened, cast another spell removing all poisons from his body. At that his eyes fluttered open.

" _You can be a little too forceful Ahri"_

She turned to find Elanna helping up the medic that she'd roughly shoved aside and blushed at the soft rebuke.

"You can't just barge in here and…" the medic stopped, his jaw dropping open as he saw his patient now sitting up with no wounds on him "what… how…?"

Janus stepped through the door at that time, looked around and addressed the medics "These are… guests and they've already done us the favour of driving away the Grimm that were attacking. They don't speak our language though so questions are going to have to wait." He looked at the patient on the bed "How badly damaged was he?"

"Severe lacerations to his abdomen with extensive internal bleeding. He had a few minutes at most and…" he looked Janus squarely in the eyes "there was nothing we could do for him Janus." he paused "I'm going to be insistent upon some answers to those questions."

Janus nodded "You'll get them. For now, I think you'll find that you're out of patients." He turned to the patient "Gorg, can you gather the other councillors and bring them to the inn in about an hour?"

"I can but where's the mayor? He should be organising a meeting about what's happening - whatever that is."

"He's in jail." He held up his hand as Gorg started to protest "You'll find out some with the rest of the councillors in an hour when we consider what to do with Rezil as they have bearing upon what happened. For now, I'm going to grab my charges and take them to the inn and have a private conversation…" he held up his hand again "There's some things that are going to remain private even from the council Gorg. That's just the nature of some of the things that we're going to be talking about before the council gets there."

Gorg scowled at him but then relented "Ok Janus, I'll trust you but I, too, expect answers."

Janus nodded to him again and then turned and left signalling the group to follow him.

—

After seeing the others into the conference room Janus locked the door and turned to the others "That should ensure that we don't get disturbed unexpectedly. This room is the only one in the inn that is sound proofed which I considered essential for this… discussion. There's obviously secrets that shouldn't get out and information that needs to get out but in a controlled fashion."

The others in the room nodded. All of them, except Fawn, used to knowing things that the general populace didn't.

Janus turned to her "You've probably realised that the upper echelons of government keep a few things from the general population?" She nodded "Well, now you're in that position yourself simply because circumstance has put you there."

She looked him, fear and consternation warring on her face but answered with confidence "I can do that."

"I'm sure you can but speaking out about what transpires here could seriously hurt people." He held her eyes a little longer and then turned to Kashaahri "I suppose the first things to ask are: Where are you from, what brought you here and why?"

Kashaahri listened to the translation and said _"The long answer is complicated and I don't think we have time for that?"_ she waited while Janus listened to the translation and nodded an understanding _"The short form then. We're from a world called Azeroth. Upon that world, we're adventurers that fight against those that would harm our societies."_ Janus raised an eyebrow at that _"We are of three races representing four societies. Me and Daal are Draenei, Allarae is a Night Elf, Elanna and Emielice are human but are from the human cities of Gilneas and Stormwind respectively. All of our races and societies belong to the same Alliance."_

"And here's me thinking that having 'two' races made things complicated." Fawn blushed as everyone turned towards her at her interruption "Oops, sorry."

" _There's more than three races and it is more complicated."_ Kashaahri smiled at her and then continued _"What brought us here is a World Gate. We were heading towards a world called Draenor…"_ Daalorisa touched her elbow as Ahri paused, she too, had been looking forward to going home _"When we got to that gate we found it closed and a demon,"_ all three Remnants goggled at that _"one of the Eredar, was opening another gate and was running amok through the military forces that were there to prevent anyone coming through. We defeated the demon and came through the gate that was there because we all felt that Elune, our Goddess, wanted us to come through."_

"We have demons in myth, great beasts with fire in their eyes, claws on their hands and cloven hooves… " He paused as Daalorisa stamped her hoof and removed her glove.

" _No claws"_ she said and smiled.

Janus closed his eyes, took a deep breath and then looked into the glowing eyes of the Night Elf and the Draenei "Ok, but no one believes that demons really exist. No one, including me, is going to believe that without…" His voice trailed off as Emielice waved her hand and her imp, dropping it's phase shift, became visible "What… is that?"

" _It is an Imp, one of the demons that Emielice has under her domination. It's one of the weaker demons but still has it's uses."_

"You said that one of the ones she dominates. How many does she have?"

" _Five but she can only bring out one at a time."_

"And the others she has are more powerful?"

" _Not especially. It's more that they have different capabilities. Other demons, like the Eredar, are more powerful though and usually can't be dominated by warlocks."_

"Ok, that demons exist is something that will have to be kept from the public for now as it would cause a panic which is something that we don't need when there's Grimm about." He paused for a bit in thought then "This 'demon' upon your own world that you defeated, you say it had opened a gate to here?" asked Janus

" _We don't believe so. It would be more likely that the demon was trying to open a gate to either the Twisting Nether or to some other world that the Eredar had conquered so as to start an invasion of Azeroth. The Legion are… upset with Azeroth as the Azerothians keep successfully resisting them. After the demon had been defeated we believe our Goddess was then able to re-direct it here but that is supposition on our part."_

"The gate that you came through, does it still exist?"

" _No, it closed behind us and we were the only ones that came through. The base captain on the other side assured us that none had left before us and he was a man of integrity."_

"This 'Legion' that you mention, what is that?"

" _That is an army of demons, and not just of the Eredar and imps, but all the races that have joined Sargeras in his quest for power and domination."_

"So, the Imp would be one race, the Eredar another. From what you're saying it seems that the Eredar is the most powerful?"

" _They are certainly some of the most powerful if not the most powerful. And, like all races, the longer an individual practises an art the more powerful they become."_ She looked at him, tilting her head to one side as if gauging _"You could easily defeat a young Eredar."_

Janus nodded understanding on that and asked "This demonic army could come through at any time?"

" _Yes. If they discover this world. But this is a war that has been going on for better than twenty-five thousand years and they haven't discovered it yet. So, although it would be worth preparing for it's probably not going to happen tomorrow."_

"To be honest, I'm not sure if that's comforting or terrifying. The demons that Emielice has under her command won't tell?"

" _No, demons under the command of a master are very loyal to that master."_

"And who, or what, is Sargeras?"

" _Sargeras is a Titan. Very powerful and very, very mean. Azeroth and the races that live there have been fighting him and his minions for thousands of years."_

"Titan?"

" _An ancient, powerful and generally kindly race. They shaped worlds, caused life on many of them and created many races while they searched the universe for others of their kind. The ones we know of are Aman'Thul, Eornar, Norgannon, Golganneth, Khaz'goroth, Aggramar and Sargeras. Most, if not all, of them have disappeared over the millennia in their war with Sargeras."_

"I can't recall any of those names but then religion has never been my thing. We have our own gods, several religions in fact, but none of them seem to have the real beings that you're talking about."

"One religion is true according to Professor Ozpin, the Headmaster at Beacon, and I trust him in this." Sapphire interjected "The one with the two brothers but they left long ago and haven't directly influenced the world since. There are no known names for them though and I don't think the word 'Titan' has been mentioned in association with them."

" _From what you say they could be Titans but there are other powerful races as well such as the Naaru. If they were Titans then they were a group that hadn't made contact with the ones we know."_ She shrugged _"The universe is a big place."_

"Getting back to a possible demon invasion I can say that that's not something we want to hear" he looked at Fawn who'd gone pale "but it's not something we can do anything about ourselves. We'll have to inform the major city governments and the Hunter Academies. That's likely to involve you travelling to see them at some point. I doubt if they'd believe it without meeting you." Janus paused for a bit then went on "The next question that everybody is going to want to know is how you managed to deal with all of the Grimm, how you resurrected Fawn and how you healed all those people?"

" _That's a complex question. Starting with the Grimm?"_ Janus nodded _"We use a fighting style that's been developed on Azeroth over a long time. One person draws the fight to her, one person heals that person and the others then deal damage to the attacking force. I specialise in close combat, Allarae, Emielice and Elanna specialise in long range damage and Daalorisa is our healer. Working this way, we've found that we can take on much stronger foes than we could alone."_ Kashaahri raised her eyebrows in question.

Janus nodded "It's different from what we do. Our fighting style is much more individualistic and without the specific roles that you have but we Hunters also train as teams."

" _The simple answer then is that I drew the attention of the attacking forces, Daal healed me while Allarae, Emielice and Elanna dealt damage eliminating them as fast as they could. As they weren't particularly strong eliminating them wasn't difficult and, from what I saw, many of the larger, stronger ones left without attacking us."_

" _They were weak"_ said Daalorisa _"So there wasn't a lot of healing needed, just my Healing Rain really, allowing me to also do damage to help clear them."_

" _In hard combat, it's unlikely that Daal would be dealing damage. It's not her speciality and the amount of damage she does is minor while the healing she does is critical." Janus nodded in understanding "The answer to the healing and resurrection is 'magic' but each of us uses it differently, calling upon different ways and teachings to utilise mana that are a result of the path we've chosen, our 'class'. I'm a paladin, Daalorisa is a shaman, Allarae is a mage, Elanna is a priest and Emielice is a warlock. It was Emielice that called Fawn back using her connection to the Void. It's also worth noting that simply casting the spell doesn't necessitate that the person will be resurrected. Most people when they die simply pass on and that's it."_

"That's my experience" said Sapphire "but most of the ghosts that I come across and help move on have been dead for some time. The body long gone and they usually don't talk."

Janus looked at her and then addressed Kashaahri "But you can all heal and resurrect?"

" _Not exactly. A mage can't heal or resurrect but Allarae can due to other skills outside of being a mage that she's learned although these ways are more limited than those of us who can do it as part of our class path. The rest of us can all resurrect with the same alacrity as Daalorisa but our healing is far more limited due to the paths we've taken within our class. Which is why we have Daal doing the healing as she's specialised in that."_

"You healed Gorg in what is likely to be called a miracle and yet you're healing is limited?"

" _That's a paladin specific ability called 'Lay of Hands' which, as the name suggests, requires physical touch. It will heal anybody up to full health instantly as long as they're not dead but has a long time between uses. I can do other healing but my mana pool and regeneration isn't enough to do a lot of it and each spell cast doesn't do much healing either."_

Janus considered this and nodded "Now I need to know more about this 'magic'. We don't have it at all except in…" He stopped as Sapphire leaned over and placed a hand on his arm.

"We have magic but it has been hidden as it only applies to four people known. Those four people are told about in a myth of our world, The Tale of the Four Maidens. It's about a wizard who lived alone and who is visited by four maidens, Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall. In thanks for the help that they give him the wizard gathers all his powers and bestows the maidens with their own power." She reached forward and lightly placed her fingers upon the carafe of water on the table and seconds later the water was solid ice "I'm Winter. The reason why it was hidden was because of the way that the power is passed on from one person to the next. When we die the power is passed on to another young woman. At first it was thought to be random but then it was realised that the power passed on to the person foremost in the dying maidens thoughts. It didn't take long for people to realise that the person foremost in a person's thoughts was likely to be the person attacking them and so the story became myth and the Maidens hidden for their protection."

" _What happened to the wizard?"_ asked Elanna

"We don't know. There's no other legends or myths that even reference him."

"That explains why you were so cagey about your Semblance and it's certainly something that shouldn't go beyond this room." Janus looked around to ensure everyone understood that then continued "That said, what we have and most people know is Aura, Semblance and Dust." He looked to Sapphire "We're going to have to pass off you being able to see and talk to ghosts as your Semblance."

She nodded and he went on "Aura is a manifestation of our soul. It shields and heals us within limits. When our Aura is drained we take physical damage and our healing slows down. Semblance is an extension of Aura allowing people to do things like increased speed or telekinesis. There's as much variation as there are people and what people can do is often an outward show of their inner personality. Aura needs to be 'activated' in some way and Semblance is something that develops after that activation. Activation of the Aura is achieved on one of two ways. Either it's done by someone close to the person who's already activated theirs or it comes about through some traumatic event in a persons life. Despite this being an outback town with constant small scale attacks by the Grimm most of the townsfolk haven't activated their aura. In the big cities it's likely that an even higher percentage of the population haven't done so."

" _And what is Dust?"_ asked Allarae as she recalled finding an undead mount turned to solid mana.

"Dust is an energy source that we use. It allows those with souls to manipulate nature around them. It's used in a variety of ways but is most often used by those that encounter the Grimm to improve their fighting ability. As bullets in guns is quite common as it's easy but can also be used on other devices such as swords or even woven into clothing." Said Janus "The latter requires a lot of training and mental discipline. Swords and guns are a lot easier." He smiled as he placed his hand on own sword, indicating the cartridge slots in the handle.

Allarae opened her bag and pulled out a blue gem _"Is it anything like this?"_ She handed it to Janus.

"It could… be. I feel something from it but it's not the same as any Dust I've known."

He handed it on to Sapphire who channelled a small amount of magic around it and drew in a sharp breath "It's definitely got something there, some power but it's not like any dust I've ever seen." She handed it back to Allarae.

" _That's what we call a Gem, we add it to armour or weapons and it gives us a boost. Different Gems provide different boosts. This one is a Versatility Gem and it gives a small boost to, well, pretty much everything effectively making the person stronger."_

She put the Gem back in her bag and Kashaahri continued the explanation _"We also imbue our gear with magic giving bonuses that help our role."_ She placed her sword on the table _"That has boosts in strength, stamina and other factors that apply to my role. Pick it up."_

Janus leaned forward to grab the sword "I can't. It's like I can't even touch it."

" _Once our gear has been used it becomes bound to us and nobody else can use it. It's what we call 'Soulbound'."_

As she put it back on her belt a knock came at the door. Janus went and opened the door, careful not to open it fully, "Yes?"

"The rest of the council is here." a voice came from outside the door "I've cleared out the main room and put them in there."

"Ok, tell them that well be right down." He closed the door again and turned back towards them. "Looks like it's time to go and answer for our actions earlier. This will be a court of law and nobody but the law deputies are allowed to have weapons so I'll have to ask you to leave them here." He had been walking towards a picture on the wall and as he got to it swung it out to reveal a hidden safe. "Although, considering that no one else can even pick up your weapons it's not yours that I'm worried about." He said as he put his own weapon in the safe.

As they headed down Fawn asked _"What other races?"_

Allarae answered her _"There's Trolls, Orcs, Goblins, Gnomes, Dwarfs, Tauren, Blood Elf, Undead, Worgen and the Pandaren. The Undead and Worgen are essentially still human but have been changed through magic. The Blood Elves are the descendants of the High Elves which are no more and are related, albeit distantly, to the Night Elves. And there's other, minor races as well that show a burgeoning of intelligence."_

The group had come to a stop just outside the main room, listening as she finished. Then Janus shook himself and opened the door, ushering them through.

—

The team filed in to the inn's main public room behind Janus and Sapphire. Tables had obviously been moved around so as to give the three councillors, who were to hold judgement, a head table. A dock to one side, surprisingly, held the wounded mayor and the towns two deputies although they looked more like they were there to protect the mayor rather than ensure that he didn't run. The rest of them were directed to a set of chairs at the back of the room. Toward the street side was a gallery with several people in it although the doors to the inn were closed and locked preventing anybody from entering.

Kashaahri lifted her lips in slight amusement at the obvious arrangement to stop them running but the smile died as she looked at the bared swords and postures of the deputies. She had no concerns about her team's ability to extricate themselves from this room but she didn't want to kill anybody. Catching the eyes of the rest of the team and nodding to the mayor and the deputies she whispered _"Crowd control and try not to kill anybody if this goes the way I expect. This town isn't our enemy but some here don't like us."_ She turned toward Fawn _"Daal's going to caste a quick heal on the accused so that he can speak."_

Fawn looked rebellious for a second and then nodded _"I understand."_ Kashaahri looked at her a bit longer, considering that she hadn't said anything about the battle plans that she had just laid. Another look at the mayor and deputies showed that that 'some' didn't like the faunus either and realised that the young woman had placed herself firmly with the out-worlders.

Daal, having watched the exchange turned to the mayor and cast a Riptide on him. Murmurs echoed quietly around the room. Most there had heard about the healing but hadn't truly believed it.

The mayor had been staring at them with a mixture of anger, derision and fear but now had added surprise as felt his health rapidly returning. Moving his jaw to test how well it had healed his arrogance soon returned and an arrogant sneer appeared on his face. "Fools" he thought "You shouldn't help your enemies." He truly believed that he couldn't lose here.

—

After everyone was settled in their chairs the councillor at the head of the table stood and brought the gavel down on the table, bringing order to the room.

"For the record I'm Catalina Schashen, First Council of the town of Shadow Dawn. To my right is Arnold Treeshaper, Second Council and to my left is Gorg Blackhand, Third Council." She paused as the translation was passed on to the new-comers and noted the uneasiness that went through the newcomers at the name 'Blackhand' "We're here to discuss what happened this morning at the gate that resulted in the arrest of Mayor Rezil by Janus, Fourth Council of the town of Shadow Dawn." She paused again as the translation went on "I believe we should start with these persons names and where they are from."

Janus stood "Their names should be known for the record but where they're from and why they're here is something that is going to have to be discussed in closed council. Considering the charge that is presently before the council and the high probability that the members of the council will change because of that charge I believe we should address that first."

Catalina looked to her side "Arnold?"

"I believe that Janus makes a valid point. We should find out who these people are and what they're doing here but they're not the ones on trial and I'm willing to believe him despite his conflicted position in this case. From that it means that we need to find in the murder charge first because, if found guilty, Rezil won't be part of this council."

"Thank you, Arnold" turning to her left "And you Gorg?"

"I agree with Arnold and Janus. We need to find for the murder case before a closed session discussing these people that have come among us. There's much that we need to discuss but that we won't be able to do so with such a charge casting a shadow over the council."

"And I too agree with Janus. There is much here that needs to happen in the correct order and the finding on if Rezil needs to answer to a murder charge must come first." She looked to the Recorder "Please record the decision as unanimous and take our guests names. After that we'll begin the murder charge investigation that has been levelled at Mayor Rezil."

"Well, I don't" yelled Rezil "I haven't been found guilty yet and this is a serious charge. It needs to be properly investigated and deliberated by the council before it should be laid…"

"Shut up Rezil" Gorg thumped the table and stood in one powerful move "The conditions aren't normal and you're the one charged. Because of that you don't get a say in the matter."

"And HE does?" Rezil yelled while pointing at Janus.

"No, he doesn't" said the First Councillor "He stated his case and the sitting council decided upon the course of action. And you are in the dock. You do not speak unless asked to." She stared him down until he sat then turned back to the Recorder "Please continue."

—

Once the names had been recorded the First Councillor stood again. "This is an extraordinary case brought before us in an extremely short time in conditions of unrest. Such a charge would normally have several months of investigations before a charge would even be considered." She paused, gathering her thoughts "But things aren't normal and the bandit attack this morning has the town off balance. That was quickly followed by a Grimm attack which, as has been established from talking to witnesses, we would most likely have lost as there was simply far too many of them and our defenders too few. Into this battle came five strangers who first turned the attack away from the town and then eliminated most of the Grimm that had been attacking. After this they approached the town in a calm manner and attempted to speak with the mayor and his delegation." She looked around the quite room before continuing "These facts are not at issue. What we are here to discover is what happened after the two groups came together. For this we will be calling witnesses both from those around the gate and those of the two groups. First, we will hear from Janus. Tell us, what happened when the two groups met."

"We got about 20 metres out from the gate when Rezil stopped. He said that here was good enough but he seemed angry. Two of the approaching figures showed definite signs of being faunus and his hatred of them is well known…"

—

"Now that we've heard from all the witnesses about what happened we have some questions we need answering. How did you know that Rezil was the murderer?"

Fawn quickly answered, the anger clearly showing on her face "Because I was looking at him when he did it and that's not something that you forget." A murmur went around the room. A person giving evidence against their own murderer wasn't something anyone was going to forget.

"Because Fawn's ghost told me and I was able to use my semblance to detect the blood upon his blade and confirm that it was hers." said Sapphire. Another murmur as people commented upon the ill fortune of having a Semblance allowing you to see and talk with dead people. Something that had been completely unheard of by most of the people in the room before now.

" _Fawn told us when we were talking to her."_ Kashaahri said. _"When we first spoke to Fawn she told us that she was recently dead. I observed that the wound was a knife wound and she pointed to the mayor and said it was his knife. The dead do not have a reason to lie."_ Even after translation this caused almost no sound. People were still in shock to find people who could heal and fight using magic. To be able to do things that would normally require Dust and perform feats that even Dust couldn't do.

"I didn't at first" said Janus "Sapphire told me about the blood on the blade and I confirmed it as being there with simple sight. At that time I didn't know who's blood it was but the only things we had been attacking was Grimm and their blood dissipates." He paused as he waited for the councillors confirmation of his meaning then "Then Rezil demanded to know who the strangers were talking to at which point Sapphire confronted him with the accusation of the murder at which point he attacked."

"The evidence that we have strongly indicates that Rezil is guilty and…" the First Councillor came to a confused stop as Rezil shouted "Now" Drew a small gun from his pocket, aimed and fired it at the First Councillor to have the bullet stop before it reached her. In the gallery, several witnesses also drew weapons that they weren't supposed to have, laid about them and began making their way to Rezil. The sudden clamber as fighting broke out increasing the confusion as people screamed out in pain and others woke to the fact that there were enemies amongst them.

Kashaahri and the team had been expecting something like this to happen. The body language of the prisoner, his guards and several of the witnesses had been all wrong and so when Rezil's yell went up they reacted with trained precision instead of the confusion that his yell was supposed to engender. The first thing she did was to throw a Hand of Protection upon the First Councillor, protecting her. The second was a Hammer of justice upon Rezil, stunning him where he stood. The third was to call out "Keep Rezil and the deputies alive. Don't be concerned about the rest."

Beside her Allarae and Daal came to the end of their chants and the two deputies transformed. One into a penguin and the other into a frog as the two casters polymorphic spells landed. Elanna cast a shield over Treeshaper, shifted into her Shadow Form and, prepared for battle, looked around for any enemies.

Emielice, hearing Ahri's instructions had simply cast Rain of Fire over the gallery encasing almost all of it in fire. Only one of the four attackers survived the deadly rain. That last one turned towards Emielice, raised the knife that they'd had hidden and started to charge but then staggered and fell as he was struck by the devouring shadow of Elanna's Mind Flay.

Then Daal's Healing Rain fell over the gallery healing the injured witnesses and quickly bringing them to shocked silence.

The only sound now was from Kashaahri as she shoved the table in front of her aside and strode purposefully towards Rezil and the deputies.

"Don't hit him." Called the First Councillor "I want to be able to talk…"

Rezil suddenly screamed in pain as fire enveloped his entire body. Kashaahri quickened her pace and grabbed him by the shirt, lifting him off the ground "Daal, heals."

Then everyone turned to Fawn who stood there, mouth agape and hand raised "I… I…"

Emielice moved forward and gently closed her hand around Fawn's wrist and pulled her into a protective embrace _"It's Ok, young warlock"_ she said in a warm, clear voice _"It's over now."_

In a shaky, near hysterical voice, Fawn spoke into Emielice's shoulder _"I thought you couldn't speak…"_

Into the silence that followed the First Councils voice was almost a shout even though she spoke quietly "We shall have a recess but nobody is to leave this building. Janus, get our guests their weapons back. I believe that we can trust them and I want to be prepared for any other surprises. Also, get this place cleaned up and see if we can find out who these…" she paused as she looked at the bodies on the floor "people were. I'm starting to think that there was more to the bandit attack this morning than we suspected and that there may be the possibility of retribution…"

"Damn right there's retribution coming bitch. They'll be coming for me and the strong will tear thioooof…" Rezil's half mad ranting was cut off as Janus slammed his fist into the ex-mayor's mid-rift.

Silence returned then "Janus, can you confine these three?"

"I can."

"Is everyone in the gallery all right?" Catalina waited until she got a mumbled affirmative "Good, now someone get the doctor here. We're going to need a professional opinion on Rezil's mental health and we're going to need that fifth council person that the city's law requires and, for his sins, he's next on the list." She shook her head "This is going to be a long day."

—


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four - Agreements**

Later that night, after things had been settled as much as they could be, the team sat with the council in the conference room of the inn sampling some of Janus' best wine. The doctor, although not an official council member yet, sat in with them as the fifth member as the towns charter required. The council had just heard how the team ended up on remnant.

"Demons" the doctor shook his head "Other worlds is… hard enough to accept but demons is… I'd say that it's going too far to believe except that you showed me one." He fell silent

"Demons are a concern and even this 'magic' that our guests have brought." The First Councillor said "We're going to have to tell the academies but with communications down after whatever happened at the tournament happened means that we're going to have to send a messenger."

"I'll go." said Sapphire "Vale's the closest and I know the headmaster at Beacon." Everyone looked at her "I did my Hunter training there as a student of his." The fact that she was the Winter Maiden had been kept from the council but she was known to be a Hunter.

"I think" said Gorg "that with the higher activity of the Grimm lately that we should send more than one person."

"I can look after myself."

"I'm sure you can but sending more than one would also be a case of insurance for us. Firstly, the Grimm seem to be more active of late and then the bandits are out there. No matter what we do word is going to get out about what happened here and they're going to want to know what happened to their people and they don't seem to be against using underhanded tactics."

"We need to do something about the bandits." stated Arnold "Letting the academies know of this is important but I don't think it's as critical for us as ensuring our lines of communication and trade are open. We depend upon those for our very survival."

"Talking about bandits, does anyone know how long Rezil was with them?" asked Janus "He's been mayor here for years but I don't think he would have been able to pull this off for that long even, as we suspect, he was using his Semblance to pull the wool over our eyes."

"We really can't say. The deputies were always with the bandits." Catalina looked at Kashaahri and grinned "What you did to them has got them talking." Her expression sobered as she went on "It appears that they're part of the bandits 'intelligence arm' but they've only been here a couple of years while Rezil has been here for six or seven and mayor for the last three. They knew Rezil from before he came here as acquaintances in similar lines of 'work' but not as fellows. Being former acquaintances of Rezil was their in for corrupting him although he seems to have been open to such corruption from before he got here and we're going to have to look into that as well." She grimaced and then went on "From what they've said they originally used him solely for information, both about this town and whatever Rezil had on the towns around us, which they then passed on to their group. Once the town developed enough with enough produce on hand to make it worth their while we became a target and they offered more which he jumped at but it seems he may have had a inflated sense of his worth." Catalina shook her head "That mess earlier was not what they had planned and Rezil pulling the gun and firing took them almost as much by surprise as took most of us and then they simply reacted. They're somewhat upset that four of their number got taken out in short order. Janus, do you know what those four's official reason for being here was?"

"They purported to be a trade consortium of smaller enterprises from Atlas looking for products that they could sell in Atlas. I believe that they've been having talks with Arnold" He looked the question at council member who nodded "and other craftsmen."

"I think that, once he realised that he wasn't going to 'win' through his machinations Rezil snapped. He wasn't what one would call in his right mind after that." said the doctor, his brow wrinkling in thought "Hadn't considered it before but maybe he pushed his Semblance too far and the effort damaged him somehow. He certainly doesn't appear to have the manipulative ability that he apparently had."

"That doesn't excuse what he did beforehand though." said Gorg "On the frontier like we are, in amongst grimm and now bandits, we need to be able to trust the people beside us and we can't afford huge budgets for locking people up either."

"What he did while in his right mind brings the death penalty. He may not be in his right mind any more but he still seems to know right from wrong and he's purposefully lying about pretty much everything and obviously thinking that he can still pull the wool over our eyes." Catalina said, "And that means that we'll still be seeking the death penalty in his trial and I think we'll get it."

"A point but that's getting off the topic about how we let the academies and the cities know this news while also doing something about the bandits." Arnold said, "And it also brings up another question for our guests." He looked to Kashaahri and raised his eye brows and she nodded in understanding "During the questioning you reacted without any hesitation, as if you knew that Rezil was going to pull this stupid stunt. How do you explain that?"

" _We didn't know but there were many little tell-tales, actions and body language that said that things weren't as they appeared. The four in the gallery were obviously working to some plan to get him off the charges considering that their accounts completely contradicted everyone else."_ She paused until the council members nodded understanding _"It's possible that, with your familiarity with the mayor, that you just didn't see these tell-tales yourself or perhaps that his Semblance was still working on you then."_

Janus interrupted to say, "When I got the deputies to arrest Rezil and take him to the jail I also noted that they weren't happy with their orders and had considered that there may be trouble from them over this." The other council members nodded.

" _And then there's the fact that we are very experienced in… similar… situations. Negotiating with dragons… teaches you to be prepared for anything."_

The Remnants goggled at them for a few seconds and then Gorg asked "Is there anyone here that could have stopped them?"

" _Sapphire, Janus and possibly yourself could have taken each of them on individually but probably not if they were working together. Then it would have been six on three at best and that's usually bad odds when opponents are at similar levels and they had surprise on their side which allowed them to incapacitate several people before anybody had any idea as to what was happening. Not having met the entire township I couldn't say if there were others or not. They were well experienced and quite powerful in comparison to those that we have met."_

The council members looked at each other then Catalina asked "Would you be willing to escort Sapphire to Vale? We would, of course, pay you for your time although we don't have a great deal of free lien."

" _We would be willing to do that."_ Kashaahri smiled _"Doing quests for others is pretty much what we do."_

"Right then. We'll talk more before you leave." Catalina finished her drink and stood "For now Janus can put you up in a room and I'll say goodnight." The rest of the council followed her example and left.

—

After everyone had left Janus turned to the team "Right then, I'll see you to your rooms."

"Janus?" asked Allarae and he turned to look at her _"Do you have a room or someplace that's not disturbed much and has little traffic through it?"_

"I could probably find a place. Does it have to be private place or would public do? What do you want it for?"

" _Public would be fine although it should be reasonably small, covered and can be guarded. What I want to do is to set up a teleportation locus so that I can teleport us back here after we've finished at Vale. It would cut the time of the return trip off the total time of the trip and time does seem to be of concern."_

"Time is of concern" he nodded "Yes, I think we can find a place but we'd probably need to build it. But as the trip is several weeks one way I don't think delaying your departure for a day or so will hurt." As he led them from the room he said "You flew in on, what some would call, monsters. Is that how you're thinking of travelling to Vale?"

" _Yes. Use of our flying mounts would be the fastest way."_ said Kashaahri _"But I certainly wouldn't call them monsters. They're just mounts like the horses we've seen around. Some of them may be dangerous when in the wild but even then, they're not monsters. If you want monsters look to the Legion. They are truly monstrous and all of them are intelligent. Many could walk down the street and no one would bat an eye at what they looked like."_

He looked at her thoughtfully then said, "In our talk earlier Daal implied that they look like you?"

" _The Eredar did not start off as demons. They became demons after they accepted Sargeras' offer of power and immortality. Before then we were one race, one people. The Draenei are the ones who fled our home world, the ones who refused Sargeras' offer."_ She turned her head to him, sadness writ across her face _"In our own language Draenei means 'exiled'."_

"So, they could be walking amongst us now."

" _Possible but unlikely. Although they work through corrupting people the Legion isn't known for its subtlety. Usually it's a flashy entrance and loud noises about destroying the world. Which, admittedly, they're quite good at as they've destroyed thousands of worlds in their Burning Crusade."_

"Could the Grimm be related to them?"

" _A possibility but, from what little we know of them, unlikely. They're certainly beings of Darkness but they lack the Fel taint that comes from the Twisting Nether."_

"Hang on. You said you came from Azeroth?"

" _That is the long story."_ and she smiled at him _"The Draenei's and the Eredar's home world is Argus. The Draenei fled there some twenty-five thousand years ago. Over the intervening centuries the Draenei have had to flee many worlds. We ended up on Azeroth after we fled from Draenor, the Orcs home world as the Prophet had had a vision showing that there was where the Legion would be stopped."_

Janus shook his head "It's too much to take in in one night, it's late and here's your rooms. I'll bid you good night and in the morning, we'll build that teleportation locus you want." With that he turned and left.

"And I'll say good night as well" said Sapphire "This is my room here if you need me." And she disappeared into her room leaving the six of them in the hall.

" _I…"_

" _You and I need to talk, young warlock."_ Said Emielice as she grabbed the stunned faunus and dragged her into a room. The others looked after the departed and then they, too, filtered off into their own rooms.

—

" _I… why do you keep calling me a warlock?"_

" _Because when you Immolated Rezil you used fel magic. And that makes you a warlock."_ Emielice told her _"Fel magic is chaotic and dangerous because of its propensity to corrupt its users."_

" _I've become evil?"_ asked Fawn, shock and despair warring on her face.

" _No, you haven't."_ said Emielice _"You've just gained the ability to use the life-force, the spirit of the life around you, as a source of power."_

" _But… that's evil."_

" _Not really"_ she thought for a moment _"There is Light and Shadow in the universe, Chaos and Order. These, by themselves, are not evil. Elanna is a priest of Elune and a more kind-hearted person you couldn't find and yet she is a Shadow priest and works with the power of the shadow. You saw her this morning in that little ruckus?"_ she waited until Fawn nodded _"It is the intent that makes an action evil or not. Acting in defence of yourself or others, as you did earlier, is not evil and is sometimes needed to prevent the spread of evil. On the other hand, the way that Rezil had specifically set out to deceive people for his own gain most definitely is."_

" _I didn't mean to…"_ Fawn said, _"I just… reacted…"_

" _We know."_ Emielice smiled softly at her _"Part of the training that you will be getting,_ _ **and you will be getting it,**_ _will be to teach you how and when to react."_

" _Training?"_

" _You're a warlock upon a world that has never had warlocks before, that doesn't know anything about the fel. You're going to need training in both how to use it and techniques to defend against it. That last part you will need more than anything else but, thankfully, we warlocks from Azeroth have learned them."_

" _I…"_

" _Training is not optional. Without it you'll possibly draw the attention of the Legion to this world and if that happens then they'll come here with intent of destroying this world. Sargeras is out to destroy all of Creation."_ Looking at the growing despair upon Fawn's face Emielice softened her tone _"You won't want to but you'll use it again as you did earlier and each use echoes across the Twisting Nether and will, eventually, draw someone's attention to this world and to you."_

" _But to draw upon others life to power what I do…"_

" _The life force you used earlier was your own. Nobody else's. What I'll be training you to do is to know where the power is coming from, how to store it in 'Soul Shards', about mana and how to increase your store of that."_

" _And summoning demons?"_

" _Yes, and summoning demons."_

" _I…"_ she looked into the eyes of the older warlock. There was no give there but there was what she very rarely saw from a non-faunus - caring _"…agree"._ She didn't understand the instinct that had driven her to change the word at the last instant but the smile that crossed the other woman's face told her that she had chosen correctly.

—


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five - Setting off**

As Allarae had taken Fawn with her to get the teleportation locus built the rest of the team had ordered breakfast using pantomime. Since they had sat down to eat people had come and gone in increasing numbers keeping the waiters rushed off their feet. Despite all the rush the area around the team was quiet as people kept distance from them. Kashaahri was aware that they were the draw card here. People were coming in, looking at them and then either heading for the bar or for a group of friends. Either way the ones that stayed ended up in small groups quietly talking to each other. It was essentially peaceful but an excited crowd like this could quickly turn ugly if anything set them off and so she'd placed herself with her back to the wall and watchful of everything that went on around her.

" _Careful"_ said Daal as she sat next to her _"If anything goes wrong you could kill most of the people in here by accident."_

" _Most of the people in here are friendly."_

" _Doesn't mean that they'll stay that way if anything goes wrong and, despite success with Fawn, I doubt that they're all resurrect-able."_

" _You're right of course"_ Kashaahri smiled at her _"Instinct I suppose."_

Daal smiled back as she watched her leader visibly relax _"The well-trained instinct of a good Tank."_ She looked around the room _"They're just curious and the rumours that must be flying around the place about us, all wrong of course, would have increased that curiosity."_

" _Oh, of course."_ Kashaahri's smile widened. She looked around again and then went back to eating her breakfast. Still aware but less on edge.

Sapphire looked at the two, unable to follow the conversation but able to note the decreased tension in the Draenei. She was aware of the people considering her as well. How her suddenly close relationship with the council and the new comers had changed her status. She was sure that keeping her existence from general knowledge was going to become difficult if not impossible and that meant that the secret of her being Winter was also likely to come out. Considering the fateful consequences of that she decided that it may be worth asking her new friends if they could train her as well as Fawn. They obviously knew more about magic and its ways than anyone on Remnant did.

—

The five of them looked up as the doors to the inn opened again admitting Allarae, Fawn and Janus. The newly arrived looked around and headed over when they found them. As they approached Kashaahri noted that Janus was carrying his sword and that he kept looking at her as if he wanted to ask her a question.

Fawn, noticing the looks between the two fighters, said _"He wants to ask you for a match. He wants to get a 'feel' for your ability while also using the match as an example for the fighters of the town. Janus, being Hunter trained, is in charge of training the towns defenders."_ She grinned _"Personally, I think he's just itching for a fight with someone who'll actually be a challenge for him."_

Kashaahri laughed back _"Tell him he's on. Also, tell him that if he manages to get through my defences and hit me I'll give him a thousand gold."_

" _Gold?"_

Kashaahri pulled out a gold piece from her belt and tossed it to the young warlock and said, _"One thousand of these."_

Fawn caught the coin, weighed it in her hand and then turned to Janus and explained the deal and showing him the coin. He held the coin for a few seconds, considered the paladin and the hushed crowd around them. Handing the coin back he said "Well then, better make it a good show in the town square in about an hour. I'll need time to get some of our fighters together for the demonstration and I'm sure you and the others of your team need time as well." He waved as he left.

Kashaahri watched him go then turned to Allarae _"Did they decide where to put the locus?"_

" _Yes. There was a paved area next to the gate that doesn't see a lot of traffic. Placed the 'locus ring' that I had you and Emie make for me this morning into the stone and tested it magically and then with a short teleport. We left once they started talking about walling it in for more protection from uninvited visitors using it."_ She chuckled _"Caused a bit of a stir when I called out the chopper for the ride back here."_ Becoming more serious she went on _"We bumped in to Janus just as we got here. I take it you're not going to be hitting him?"_

Kashaahri smiled _"Well, not hard anyway"_ then she thought over what else Allarae had said _"That's probably a good idea. You may be the only person to know the spell now, but others will learn it and not necessarily those that you teach. We'll probably have to consider a permanent portal between here and this Vale as well once we get there."_ She considered the information a bit more then let it go - the protection of the town was up to the town _"Any ideas on how we train Fawn and Winter?"_

" _Training Fawn will mostly be left to Emie, warlock to warlock although we still don't know her Semblance and how that's going to interact with her use of the Fel or even if she still has it. Sapphire will be trained by me as her magic most closely resembles that of a mage. This new world is not the same and neither of them are exactly new players which could have benefits and drawbacks depending upon their ability to accept new truths. Some could be done by any of us such as being able to recognise other people's stats and their personal alignment. Being able to group with us will be a plus as well for healing and the use of portals."_ She looked at the crowd _"I don't think here and now is a good place."_

" _We will move to the conference room if it's available."_ She turned to Fawn and lifted an eyebrow

" _I'll ask"_ she said and moved to the bar.

—

As they settled into the conference room Sapphire asked "What are we doing here?"

Fawn responded "They're going to start our training. Some general abilities that we'll need."

Kashaahri listened to the translation then nodded _"There's something that we need to ask first though."_ She paused for their confirmation _"You have many things that are strange to us, many things that we are going to need to learn about as long as we live here. Among those things that we don't know about is if you have the ability to know another person's strength and health?"_

Sapphire answered pulling out her scroll "We have our scrolls which can tell us the status of our own Aura." She showed them "Places like the training academies have more sophisticated gear that can tell a person's Aura for when they do training and have tournaments. But I don't know of any that can tell a person's strength."

" _Ok. We have a similar ability that's based in our magic. It does a bit more though. We can see the Aura of those who have 'Activated' it and we can see people's physical health. Even of those that haven't Activated their Aura. We can see if a person is diseased, poisoned or cursed and we can tell a person's relative strength to our own. This latter is why we haven't been concerned of any attacks upon us. We simply haven't seen anybody here that's a match for us."_

" _That's why you offered so much as a bet"_ Fawn blurted _"You knew you couldn't lose."_

" _It's not a huge amount. Significant certainly but not huge and it's always possible that he could hit me. Pull out some trick that I've never seen before or simply be in the right place at the right time. In a fight it is best not to assume that you've won before the fight begins."_ She smiled _"I could, most definitely, still lose."_

"The amount you offered is probably enough to buy this inn." Sapphire said.

" _All the more incentive for him to actually hit me."_ She smiled again _"But, still, we're here to begin the training of you two so I suggest we be about it"_

—

As they walked to the square for the duel with Janus, Sapphire said "I wish you had a magic to learn our language…damn"

" _Lost concentration again I see."_ smiled Daalorisa _"Keep it going, it will become second nature soon enough and we do."_

Sapphire glowered at her but recast the spell that she'd learned, feeling the knowledge of her own strength and health and that of those around her, then she stopped "Wait, you do? Then why haven't you used it?"

" _We have used it but it, takes time and study still. We were lucky that Fawn could speak our language after she resurrected. That's helped speed the process up some and, of course, helped with communication in the interim."_

" _We should all be fluent in the language of Remnant by the time we reach Vale possibly before depending upon how long it takes to get to Vale."_ Kashaahri said _"And, if you want, we could teach you Draenei by then as well."_

—

A hush grew around the square as the two fighters faced off at the centre of it. The tall, horned woman from another world standing almost preternaturally still with shield and sword at the ready and her shining eyes simultaneously projecting confidence, peace and anticipation. Facing her the retired Hunter of the town with his own two-handed sword held before him, his own anticipation almost making him seem to dance as he shuffled his feet.

There was no signal, just a sudden stillness and then a rush as the Hunter used Speed Dust to cover the distance between them in a blink of an eye, a crash as sword met shield and then stillness again as both came to rest facing one another with several meters between them.

Janus attacked again and began pushing the fight, attacking at every opportunity, his blade swinging and darting forward in well-practiced strikes, but unable to get through the defences of the paladin who seemed to be barely moving but each strike from the Hunter was deflected by either sword or shield.

"What are they doing?" Asked one of the towns fighters who'd come up beside them.

" _Testing each other, looking for gaps and weaknesses in the others style."_ Responded Allarae after Fawn's translation and another clash as the two fighters came together. Longer this time as the hunter pushed his attack.

"She seems to be working in pure defense and no fight can be won if all you use is defense."

The fighters parted again, coming to rest just out of reach of each other with both breathing hard.

" _Our main style of fighting is based around a group with three roles. That of tank, damage and healing. The tank is there to draw attention to themselves, to prevent others in the group from being attacked and to absorb the attacks that come their way. This style of combat means that a tank is primarily defensive but that doesn't mean that they don't have some strong attacks."_ She nodded towards the fight _"Kashaahri is our tank."_

After a pause the Hunter rushed the paladin, feinting high and then swinging his great sword low to be met by sword, a step back to allow the sword to continue its swing and a re-engagement as he brought the sword back in, trying to get past the shield. The mistake he'd made was subtle, such that only the most experienced even saw it, but everyone saw the result as Kashaahri's sword snaked in and struck him in the side with the flat of her blade. He responded instantly, as to be expected from such an experienced Hunter, and with the use of another Speed boost he leapt backwards in a well-practiced Disengagement but as he landed in a ready crouch his body crackled with the red lightning of a broken Aura.

" _Well, it's nice to know that your Hunters and ours have something in common."_ Daalorisa smiled at those listening, trying to break the sudden tension in the air as several people spoke up in shock.

"She broke his Aura with one hit… he's our strongest fighter… How?"

" _We're more experienced than you and with that experience comes a better understanding of the fight and more strength."_ said Allarae

Fawn made the translation but as she did so she was considering the information from the spell that she'd learned from her teacher. The ones that had '72' next to Janus and a big, red, '90' next to Ahri and, in fact, all of her off world friends. She was sure she didn't fully understand the difference in power that those two numbers represented and it had her feeling a mixture of fear, exhilaration and hope. They were stronger than any one she'd ever met which caused her fear but they were on her side and, so far, none of the bandits had been stronger than Janus. Then she looked to Sapphire with her 78. She wasn't as experienced as Janus but she was stronger and Fawn instinctively realised that it was her magic that made her stronger. And she realised that which Allarae hadn't mentioned - that it wasn't only their experience that made them stronger but their magic as well. As it stood she knew of no one on Remnant who could stand up to her new friends.

Then everyone suddenly looked back to the combat area as Janus' Aura spiked. He'd dumped his full Dust magazine onto his sword and drew the power into him. An act of desperation to bring about a win at all costs. Then he leapt, faster than any eye could follow.

No one was listening as Daal whispered _"Heroic Leap…?"_

—

Everything was moving so slow. The crowd were statues, his opponent barely moving as she began to look up to where he was now descending, their eyes met as she started to bring up both her shield and her sword to defend. But it was so slow. He used an elbow to brush aside her shield, used his sword one-handed to deflect her sword and then, gripping his sword in both hands he swung viciously against her mid-rift. It was as his sword connected that he thought 'damn, should have used the flat of the blade'.

Then real-time grabbed him again and he smashed into the ground and darkness folded in upon him.

—

Daal reacted as the experienced healer she was and quickly cast an instant heal on him. She cocked her head, checking that the heal that she'd just thrown would be enough. Janus' health and Aura were rapidly regenerating…

" _Now that's interesting…"_ she said quietly.

All those that understood her nodded in agreement. Sapphire didn't understand but she was looking Janus in shock…

"He's got a mana bar…"

Although it was barely a whisper Fawn looked about hurriedly to see if anyone else had heard but everyone had their focus on the sudden end of the fight and hadn't heard her. She placed her hand upon Sapphire's shoulder and brought her close "I don't think it's time for everyone to find out that native born Remnants have magic." She whispered.

Sapphire drew in her breath then let it out slowly "Damn. Did anyone hear me?"

"No but watch it. There's been more than one time where I had thought someone hadn't heard me and found out the hard way that they had."

Sapphire looked at the faunus in query "Rezil?"

"Rezil. Being dead brings _everything_ into sharp clarity."

—

Around them pandemonium was breaking out. Some people were shouting, demanding to know if Janus was alright while others held their own council and looked upon the newcomers with heightened interest.

" _That… was probably not the best way to finish the fight."_ Said Emielice

" _No"_ agreed Elanna as the shifting perceptions of the onlookers washed over her, her sensitive nose bringing in scents of fear and consternation _"It probably wasn't but Ahri does tend to be… direct about these things."_

The crowd hushed again as Kashaahri, putting away her sword and shield, approached the fallen Hunter. She said something and, as extended a hand to help him to his feet, the crowd quietened down.

—

Janus came to slowly. He cringed as he remembered the blow that… His eyes flew open… on to the person he'd thought that he'd killed.

She smiled at him _"Well, you going to lay down there all day? Sure, it's nice day to be lying around…"_ It was hard to read those glowing eyes and he really didn't know what she was saying but the slightly mocking tone told him she was making fun of him _"…but there are things to do, places to be."_ She shrugged and smiled. She extended an arm to him and, as she pulled him up without showing any strain, he realised just how badly he'd been over matched. She pulled him close, putting an arm around him to support his shaking legs and whispered, _"We need to talk."_ Then she released him and addressed the crowd more than him _"It seems I owe you one thousand gold pieces."_ She made a great show of counting out the gold to the cheers of the onlookers. None understood what she'd said but they'd heard of the bet through the grapevine and were thrilled that _their_ Hunter had won and that, combined with the fact the he was alright, had them cheering their hero.

She picked up his sword _"Can I keep this?"_ It was the questioning tone that allowed him to ascertain her meaning but what had him staring was his bent and twisted sword.

He nodded then looked down at the pile of gold "How the hell am I supposed to carry this?" he asked quietly. She just smiled.

—

Janus asked as he came in through the door to the conference room "What do we need to talk about?"

Kashaahri said _"Sorry to disturb your celebration but you were drinking quite… extensively - all at the expense of your patrons I might add who were mightily chuffed that you'd won."_ She smiled at him. _"What we need to talk about is how you won and we need to talk now because the rest of us are leaving for Vale in the morning."_

He nodded "Yes well… Actually, how did I win? You're obviously stronger than I am. And what happened to my sword?"

" _Well that comes down to how you used all of your Dust at the same time and the reason why we need to talk. Doing so allowed you to move at a pace that I couldn't effectively react to. The downside is that you would have died if Daal hadn't been there to heal you. So, yes, you won but I suggest that you don't go all out the way you did unless you've got a really good healer next to you."_

"I… would… have died?"

Daal stepped in _"You burned yourself out. Your Aura was nearly depleted after Ahri hit you and you should have stopped at that point according to Sapphire and everything she was taught at Beacon and probably similar teaching that you got when you became a Hunter. Instead you dumped all your Dust and absorbed a considerable amount of the released magic directly into yourself. Sapphire says that she's never seen anything like it."_

"It's my Semblance. Doing so temporarily boosts my Aura and strength allowing me to heal a little faster and continue the fight past where I would normally stop." He thought about it a bit, remembering "I don't think I've ever done so much at one time nor when my Aura has been so low."

" _The amount of magic that you infused yourself with was beyond what you could handle at the time. It was a desperation move to simply win at the sacrifice of yourself but in doing so it… how should I put this… broke a barrier within you allowing you to become a mana user."_

"I've become a magic user like Sapphire and you?

" _Yes."_ Said Elanna _"But you need to be aware that magic will not work the same as the way you used Dust. With Dust as long as you had some you could carry out your abilities. It was the fuel that fed them."_

He nodded at the explanation.

" _With magic mana pools within you and because of that it's a very limited resource. If you use it too fast you will run out but it also naturally regenerates and with a bit of instruction and practice it can be made to regenerate faster and for you to be able to pool more."_

"It doesn't sound like I've gained any benefit."

"There's two ways that you've benefited" said Sapphire "First off you no longer need to carry Dust. That's a huge saving in both money and weight. Secondly your mana pool will far exceed, if it doesn't already, any amount of Dust that you could carry."

" _You have potentially become a lot more powerful than you were but you still need to learn and get experience with it. That will be a weakness for a while."_ said Kashaahri. _"And today's experience should also caution you about using too much Dust."_

He nodded his understanding of that then asked "And my sword?"

" _That simply crumpled when it impacted my armour."_ She noted his surprise _"The armour I wear is a lot stronger than steel."_

He started to say something but Kashaahri stopped him before he could say anything _"We need to talk because of the consequences of the fight for you and for us and discussions about my armour aren't relevant."_

"Consequences?"

" _Yes, consequences. The first is that you've become a mana user as we've said and the second is the consequences for us. It seems that the fight wasn't the best, ah, public relations exercise. For most the fact that you're Ok and that you won has allowed them to gloss over the fact that you ended up unconscious on the ground and we've carefully kept from them, and the council for that matter, just how close to dying you were. Others aren't quite so blasé and are whispering in dark corners. We don't know what they're saying but the looks and body language are there."_

"Damn, that is going to complicate matters."

" _As we're going to be away we're going to have to leave the townspeople to you and the council to counter. You know your people better anyway."_ He nodded _"Your sudden elevation to mana user we can help a bit with now. A small amount of training and to suggest that you, like Winter, keep it hidden else you're likely to end up being hunted by those greedy for power just like the Maidens were."_

"Will the power I have pass on the same way though? The Maidens got their power through the actions of a wizard and not from a near death experience."

" _We can't say. It probably won't but people are likely to act on what they think they know and the legend of the Maidens is, according to Sapphire and Fawn, pretty well known by basically everybody. In amongst everybody there will be a small group who know the story of how the Maidens were hunted for their power and will have a lust for power and thus are likely to try to kill you just on the off chance that it works the same way."_

"Damn. You're right of course. I'm going to have to make sure that I don't go blabbing about it to anyone."

"That's the way it's been for the Maidens for a long time." Said Sapphire "I've been having to keep my mouth shut about it for years now. It's one of the reasons why I travel so much."

He nodded his understanding then said "I'm going to have to replace my sword faster than anticipated." He looked at Kashaahri "Of course, this morning I wasn't anticipating replacing my sword at all even _after_ I challenged you." He grinned to take the sting out of his words.

She grinned back then said _"I can help you with that."_ She pulled a sword and belt out of her bag _"The sword is made out of cobalt and gives a boost to strength and speed. The belt is made from Khorium and gives a boost to strength, stamina and damage output. It was the last suitable materials I had available from Azeroth else I would have made a full set for you."_

He nodded his thanks and picked up the belt, thinking that it was a little big for him, and strapped it around his waste. He felt the shock of the Soul-binding echo through his soul but it wasn't as much of a shock as the belt _shifting as if alive_ to fit him perfectly. The others chuckled at his reaction.

"Does all your clothing act like that?"

" _Yep."_ Came the chorused reply from the grinning Azerothians.

He mock scowled at them a bit and then turned and picked up the heavy blade, testing it's balance "It's not really what I'm used to, a little heavier in the tip, but I'll get used to it." And he strapped it across his back noting the soul-binding as it, too, echoed through his soul. "That Dust dispenser doesn't appear to be part of the blade?"

" _It's not. While I was making the belt and sword Allarae was reverse engineering the dust dispenser of your old sword and making one to fit the new sword. Having it should help you hide the fact that you're now a mana user."_

He nodded at the last bit "Multi-talented I see and not just a fighter."

" _Are you, as a fighter, inn keeper and councilor not also multi-talented?"_ asked Allarae

" _As long as we have materials and a place to work then we have the skills to make what we need."_ Said Elanna

He nodded his acceptance and apology "And this spell you wanted to teach me? What does that do?"

"It's like our scrolls ability to measure our Aura but it does more than that as well." Said Fawn and he looked at her, raising his eyebrow "It shows the strength of both yourself and others so helps you gauge someone else's capability. It will also tell you if someone is a mana user or not."

"That will be helpful. How long will it take to learn?"

"Not long." Said sapphire "They taught me and Fawn this morning before the fight."

—

Dawn light lit the clear sky but the town still lay in the shadow that gave it it's name of Shadowed Dawn. The light and shadow of the morning seemingly showing the world that life is made up of both. Despite the early time many of the towns folk were at the gate to see them off. Some came to wish them well, others to see the rumoured 'beasts' that they'd be riding and still others just for the occasion. The First Councilor had come as well and now she stepped forward to address the team and the crowd.

"You came to us in time to save us from almost certain destruction at the hands of the grimm, using means beyond my ken you brought one of our citizens back to us and now you take messages from us to the neighbouring towns and to Vale about what has happened here. To let them know that they need to be on the lookout for these bandits who seem well enough organised to be a state themselves and a hostile one at that." She paused to allow that to sink in "You are also charged with finding out what happened at the Vytal festival, what is happening now and why our scrolls no longer work. All of this is vital as we dependent upon our trade for much that we need to survive. To be able to trade we need to deal with the bandits and we need our communications working again."

Kashaahri answered for the team "We accept… this charge… and will carry it out… to the best of… our ability."

As she spoke Elanna bent forward, concentrated her will and called forth her Golden Gryphon mount. This caused a bit of a stir amongst the crowd with calls of 'gryphon' but quickly settled down as people realised that it wasn't a grimm. Allarae's rocket barely caused a stir as the townspeople had seen such things before. Kashaahri watched the crowd intently as Alla guided Sapphire into mounting behind her. Once the crowd settled down again she signalled Emie and she called forth her Twilight Drake.

This caused a major upset in the crowd. Cries of grimm echoed across and people began to move. Some to get away and some, drawing weapons, to attack. Putting a small amount of power into her voice Kashaahri called "HOLD." The powerful voice echoed across the square, drawing people's attention to the tall Draenei, constraining the rising panic. "This… is not grimm. This is… drake from Azeroth. The only grimm… we've dealt with were the ones we… destroyed… outside your gate."

Into the silence that hung over the square Fawn's hushed "She's beautiful." Sounded loud but broke the tension and nervous laughter followed as people put away weapons and truly looked at the drake and the small human now seated peacefully upon her shoulders. _"Do I get to ride her?"_

" _No, but you do get to ride something similar."_

Catalina stepped up and whispered, "You did it this way on purpose?" A statement more than a question.

"Yes, was worried about… reaction." Catalina nodded "Be good now." She said and waved to Daal who, with all eyes upon her, lifted a vial to her lips and drank. Moments later a Sandstone Drake stood in her place. Comments passed about, some recalling that in the legends dragons could turn themselves into humans.

 _Kashaahri turned and faced the crowd and, lifting her voice, "Yes, some dragons can turn themselves into humans and often do so when dealing with the mortal races."_ She waited while fawn translated _"But Daal is not one of them. She, like me, is a Draenei."_

"You are not Faunus?" the question came from out of the crowd.

" _No. Two of our number are human, two of us are Draenei and one a Night Elf."_ She paused a bit _"As you've heard but may not have believed, we are from another world and upon that other world there are diverse intelligent species."_

"Then why do you help us? What reason do you have to be here?"

" _The answer to both questions is the same."_ She paused, looking about the crowd, ensuring that she had their attention _"Because our gods sent us here to do so."_ With the crowd silent on that she turned, helped Fawn to mount up on Daal, called her own Golden Wind Serpent and then, with a last look around, said "We must… be off."

With that the seven of them launched skyward.

—


	6. Chapter 6

**Authors Note: Unfortunately, the way that my story is progressing I won't be able to maintain congruence with what's happening in RWBY as I'd hoped. I will be able to up to the last episode of season five but beyond that the two stories will split.**

 **Chapter Six - Temple of Elune**

The Light flowed out into the spring, imbuing the waters. There was still Darkness within the pool, Light casts shadows after all, but even that was changed by the essence of the Light. As the water welled up from the ground so it over-flowed the spring's banks starting the river which flowed past the town of Shadowed Dawn.

—

He hadn't been this way for years, not since… Janus stopped that thought as the familiar pain gripped his heart. He looked around him, at the clearing that was next to the river. A natural ford existed here and the remains of the path that led to his old… His thoughts stopped again, tears welling in his eyes. He'd put it off too long this return, this final acceptance and goodbye.

As he was about to set off down the path he _felt_ something behind him and he spun, sword drawn, only to be confronted by his dead wife as she hurried towards their house, eyes filled with terror. She passed through him, unaware that he was there and he wondered if this was what had been confronting Sapphire for all these years of seeing ghosts. Of seeing people in distress and being unable to talk with them, to help them. Of course, Sapphire had by helping them to pass on but he didn't know how to do that and so all he could do was watch.

—

How many times had she been this way, hurrying towards an end that simply wouldn't, _couldn't,_ change?

The path was before her as always, the same unchanging passing through the river at the ford. The water ruffled slightly in the wind she couldn't feel, the rays of the sun slanting through the trees at the exact same angle. She hurried forward to the river taking the exact same steps.

How often would she be put through this torture, this terror knowing that she couldn't change it. That when she reached her house her brother, carrying a bloodied axe and covered in blood, would point to the broken forms of her children and tell her that they were safe. That as she turned and started running, unthinking, to her children he would raise that same axe and use it upon her…

Her footsteps fell, step by unalterable step. Her foot touched the surface of the river, as she knew it would, and things… changed. Light flowed around her, into her and time expanded…

 _She knew how long she had trod that path, she heard, again the inarticulate call from her brother that had her rushing to her home and her children. Her call to Janus to tell him that something was wrong and that she needed him at home but only getting his message service. She saw, as if from outside herself, her relief as her brother told her that the children were safe and then the dawning horror as she realised that_ safe _was not the word that any sane person would use and then her frozen expression as the axe that had killed her children crushed her own skull._

 _She saw how Janus had come home later that night to find her brother chatting gaily to the corpses of her and her children. How he greeted Janus with a calm and open smile and then lunged with a large knife. Janus was a Hunter and one of the best. His sword had cleared its scabbard before her brother had fully brought the knife to bear and its Dust induced speed didn't even slow down as it removed the hand that held the knife and returned, rock steady, in front of her husband. It wasn't that her husband had killed her brother but that her brother had simply run onto the sword, still making stabbing motions with a knife that was no longer there. He was so far gone in his madness that he hadn't even noticed the missing hand or the sword that now protruded from his chest._

 _Saw Janus, horrified by what had happened, simply let go of the sword. He stood still for a bit before checking her brother for life then walked over to the corpses of his family. He stared at them for a bit then turned, pulled his scroll from his pocket and called someone, walked back up the path a bit and sat down to wait. He never looked back…_

Sunlight and sound returned around her as her foot came to ground in the river. She knew, although she couldn't say how, who was behind her. She paused for a bit, considering what she had seen and then turned to her husband. "Janus my love, I…"

—

Janus had turned and watched as she went past, memories coming back to him of their time together and the violent end of those times. Watched as she walked towards the river, body language screaming that she didn't want to do this but she hurried on anyway. Watched as her foot touched the water and light enveloped her. Watched as her foot came down in the river, her shoulders slump as the stress drained from her and then she straightened up again, turned towards him and said "Janus, my love, I…"

"Bái, I…"

She gasped as she realised that he could see and hear her. She ran to him then, her arms starting to go around him and his around her and then they both stopped as they realised that they couldn't touch. They stood silent for a while then she stepped back but stayed close.

"Bái, I…"

"I know. You did everything you could. We knew he needed help. It's why we had him with us, why I pleaded with you for him to stay with us. We just didn't know that he was that far gone…"

"I should have been here, should have stopped him. I…"

"You can't be everywhere at once. You can't do everything yourself. You need to let others take responsibility and action as well." She smiled at him "Although, considering how stubborn you are, that may take a while."

He smiled back at her "My stubbornness is what drew you to me."

She laughed at that "It is good to see you again after all this time."

"I didn't know. Had thought that you were already gone. I…"

"And what would you have done? Would you have been able to see me? Would you have been able to stop the loop that I was in?"

He sadly shook his head "No. It's only recently that I've come to know that ghosts exist and probably only in the last few days that I've been able to see them."

She looked at him then, a deep considering look "You've changed, become more powerful. The power of the Dust in your magazine is insignificant compared to the power in your soul." She turned and looked at the river "What has happened, what has caused the river to carry Light?" she paused before asking the next question "What has happened to you to suddenly know that ghosts exist?"

He described then what had been happening, the bandit and grimm attacks upon the town that almost destroyed it, the town's saving by the out-worlders and the finding that the mayor was a murderer first by his victim's ghost via a Maiden and then by the victim after she had been resurrected.

"That took the town by surprise. One moment Fawn was lying next to the gate, dead as a doornail and the next she's staggering around with us some twenty metres away. Then the out-worlders walked through the township and injuries disappeared as they did so. And I swear that there's nothing so terrifying as watching the recording of Kashaahri healing Gorg." She looked questioningly at him "He was on the operating table dying of his wounds. The door was, as always for emergency surgery, locked. Kashaahri walked through it like it wasn't even there, placed her hand upon his foot and between one frame and the next Gorg is whole again."

"I don't understand what would be terrifying about that?"

"Her expression. Nothing was going to stand in her way of reaching Gorg." He shook his head "I didn't see it until after they'd left but it makes their stories of confronting demons and dragons ring true. And that's after they'd showed the council a demon and flew off on dragons. If I had seen it beforehand, I may not have challenged her to a duel."

The ghost smiled in warm remembrance "You never could let a good fighter go past without challenge."

He smiled back "It was that fight that… awoke my magic abilities." He briefly described the fight "It was the change in me that brought me out here today, to practice. My abilities have been growing and it's becoming harder to hide that I no longer need Dust." He looked to her, his eyes pleading for understanding "It was only when I got here that I thought that I hadn't said goodbye, hadn't really addressed either my loss or my feelings of guilt."

She nodded, there was really nothing she could say to that but her hand went out to his again. The gesture was enough, and he relaxed.

He returned to addressing her questions "The women said that when they came through their priestess led a ritual in thanks to their goddess Elune for their safe arrival. The centre piece of the ritual was a rock that the priestess had brought from their home-world, one which she believed was a gift from her goddess, which she dropped into the pool." He shrugged "I've never been a one for religion but, according to them, they're here at the behest of this goddess to help us." He paused, concern on his face "You're fading."

Bái found herself looking at the river again. "Elune?" she whispered to herself and was surprised when the Light seemed to flicker in response. She turned back to her husband. "The Light of Elune has freed me from the hell I was in and gave us this time together, allowing us both to heal, but it was only for a brief time. I have to go… I've been resisting but… I am not of the mortal world anymore."

He nodded his understanding, his sorrow and acceptance as they came together for the last time.

—

"There's some ruins down there next to that open field. Should we land?" Daal asked

Ahri considered the info. She easily identified the clearing but couldn't see any ruins herself. Then she looked to the setting sun and nodded to herself "Yes, land." she said and the team started spiralling down.

Sapphire brought out her scroll and tried to find anything about the area but it showed only forest. With the network down she only had the data that was on her Scroll and couldn't search any deeper. Still, from what she could see there wasn't even signs of roads around the clearing, so the ruins would have to be very old.

—

They set down in a small field. There wasn't much left that suggested that any habitation had ever been there. The group started the process of setting up camp. A fire was built, water sourced, and tents raised. After that Emie and Fawn moved off, talking quietly. Sapphire watched them for a bit then turned to the fire only to find Allarae before her.

"Walk with me." said Allarae as she motioned Sapphire to her side.

Sapphire stepped to her side but nodded after Fawn and Emie "Where are they going?"

"To set wards against intruders." said Allarae "Fel magic is better at detecting life energies and, so far, is the only magic that can consistently detect grimm. They'll probably continue Fawn's training as well." She grinned at the Remnant "Training is what we're also going to be about. How's your practice going?"

"Doing well. I can keep the status spell up without losing concentration and it was even up this morning when I woke."

"That's how should be." Said Allarae "It provides important information prior to and during battle." She paused for a bit "How's your mana regeneration going?"

"That's still slow. I'm pretty sure I've got the technique right but I just don't seem to be getting the same rate of return as you do."

"That's what I'd noticed. I think it's time that we started talking about the source of your magic."

"Source?"

"I am a mage and my source of magic is The Order of the Universe. The Fel is considered its polar opposite and its source is Chaos. Ahri and Elanna get theirs from the Holy Light and Daal, being a shaman, gets hers from the Elements themselves." She looked at Sapphire "I was wondering if you knew where your power comes from?"

Sapphire considered this "I've never looked that deeply into it but legend has it that the Old Wizard took all his power and handed it out to the four Maidens." She paused "When I first got the power it didn't truly feel like me or mine and it took a long time before I could use it effectively. I think that I've always considered it _his_ magic rather than mine."

Allarae nodded her understanding "I wish to have you engage in a _directed_ vision. It is a sensing… spell for lack of a better word and should reveal to us your magic source but it may also reveal fragments of your past that you wish to keep hidden or even don't know yourself. I will keep any knowledge to myself unless you let me speak it." She paused for a bit then added "You will see what I see."

"I…" Sapphire paused, took a sip of water "Why do you want to know?"

Allarae thought for a bit before replying "As you know the status spell that we taught you measures each person's vital signs?" Sapphire nodded "Well, with you I'm detecting an echo as if there were two points of magic in you. It's very subtle but considering how you got your capability to use magic in the first place it raises some questions."

Sapphire nodded "I see. I can't say that I've noticed this duality that you speak of."

"What I think happened is that the wizard's magic connected to you giving you the ability to use his magic. Over time, as you've learned to use his magic, it's opened up your own magic capability. Now you're probably using both but, because you started with the wizard's magic, you're still using that as your magic source which is slowing down your own mana regeneration especially as it's not, as you put it, you or yours." Sapphire nodded "There may be another benefit."

"Which is?"

"If all this speculation is true then it may be possible to return the wizard's magic to him while still having your own magic." Allarae gave her a significant look "If you could do that then no one would benefit from killing you as they simply wouldn't get the wizard's magic from you meaning that you, like us, could be open about your magic."

"The story of the Maidens is thousands of years old there's no way that he could still be alive."

Allarae nodded "There is that but consider that his magic is still there and is still active. This would tend to indicate that he _is_ still alive."

"That… makes sense."

"And then consider that someone that powerful simply doesn't die that easily."

"But… thousands of years? I doubt that."

"The leaders of the Night Elves are more than ten thousand years old."

"But… Sheesh. That…" Sapphire shook her head, eyes wide "That's… Can magic really extend life that long? How old are you?"

Allarae grinned "No, probably not. Night Elves were a long-lived race to start with and we've been enfolded in the magic of our Goddess for millennia and She's shaped us to be more like her. At one point we were even immortal." She went quiet for a bit "Magic can increase the time a person can live but by how much is unknown as far as humans go. They're a young race that hasn't had much experience with magic."

"So, you think it's unlikely that he's alive?"

"No, I'm sure that he's still around. Consider it this way. You only have the legend of the one sorcerer on this world so we must question if he was even human." Sapphire was shocked at the thought "I'm not saying he wasn't but it does seem strange that in all your history there's only been one. Why would there be only one human in hundreds of generations that have had magical capability?"

"You do have a habit of raising uncomfortable questions, don't you?" Sapphire smiled and waved away any answer "That's a rhetorical question of course." She shook her head again "I've never even thought about it that way. Has there really only ever been one person in all of history that could use magic?"

"I'm sure that Dust is solidified mana and so when your people use Dust it is actually them using magic. I think that the ease of use of Dust has prevented people from looking for other sources. This wizard has looked, and found, a different source and because of that he was more powerful as you are more powerful than users of Dust now but, because you don't truly know your source of magic, you're not as powerful as you could be. And that brings us back to the beginning." Allarae paused "A large part of being a mage is to 'Know Thyself'." She looked questioningly at Sapphire "Do you wish to know thyself?"

Sapphire, still uncertain, nodded "I'll do it."

"Good." She started pulling things out of her bags. "This is a guided meditation technique that I learned from Lorewalker Cho of Pandaria." She checked she had everything then went on "The first thing needed is for you to become centred. This tonic will help." She handed Sapphire the tonic "You only need a sip."

"We have meditation here as well you know. I even know a number of drugs to help with it." Sapphire eyed Allarae suspiciously "But what's the frying pan for?"

Allarae just grinned.

—

It had taken many tries and much sipping of the potion before Allarae's banging of the fry-pan no longer disturbed her. She sat in the lotus position and now sensed Allarae seat herself before her and take her hands. Allarae's voice whispered into her stillness and she couldn't have said if it was because the other woman spoke or if the words simply appeared in her mind.

"Good, young one. Now, look into yourself and find the magic, follow it back…"

She did as she was asked and the outer world became even more removed from her senses, replaced by visions of her memories wrapped in the blue of magic. It wasn't quite right though… there were two tones… two threads intertwined. She traced her memories back, back through her fights with the grimm, back through the villages and towns she had visited throughout the kingdoms. The thread of light blue which she recognised as her own was getting smaller as she went further back. The darker, thicker and much older thread remained the same throughout.

Further back she went. She traced both threads but her memories of this time were no longer wrapped in the blue of her magic as it was simply too thin, too weak. Her own magic thread stopped in the last year of her training at Beacon. The darker thread went further back to before she joined the academy, back to before the man named Qrow tapped her on the shoulder as she practised her sword work and asked her to come to Beacon. Back still further to the time when that thread wasn't there.

She paused for a bit then carefully traced forward to the time that the thread appeared. She looked at the memories of that day and her realisation that she didn't need Dust. She traced forward again through the trip to Beacon next to the perpetually drunk Qrow and then her meeting with the Headmaster of that prestigious institution. At that meeting the Headmaster told her the story of the Maidens, that it was actually true and that she was the new Winter.

She had been watching the dark blue thread carefully and at that meeting the thread gave a lurch and looking into the memory of the eyes of the Headmaster she knew.

The realisation threw her and she snapped out of her trance and found herself looking into the eyes of the Night Elf. She said only one word "Ozpin."

There was silence and then Allarae asked "Who's Ozpin?"

Sapphire turned to her "He's the wizard and the headmaster at Beacon Academy. The person we're on our way to see."

—

Emie and Fawn walked toward the third point where they'd set one of the wards. Emielice had explained how the wards worked and shown how to cast the spell now she asked, _"Do you want to cast this one?"_

Fawn thought about it then said _"Yes, I can do it."_

Emie stopped and pointed to where the ward needed to be _"Then do so."_

Fawn raised her hand and concentrated, apparently focusing upon her cupped hand and, raising her eyes to where the ward would be, moved her hand and opened her fingers in a casting away gesture, placing the ward.

Emie studied the ward for a few seconds _"Good. But it would be better if you cast the ward in place rather than casting it and then placing it. Takes less time and uses less mana."_ She started walking toward the next point _"You've come a long way in the last few days but that spell almost drained you. Do you remember how you first got mana?"_

" _Not really."_

Emielice nodded _"That was what I was expecting. It was an instinctive action made in a high stress environment. You merely reacted."_ She looked at Fawn who nodded her understanding _"The action itself is well known to warlocks. It's what we call a Life Tap. It's useful when you need mana quickly but you do have to be careful as it can kill you."_ She explained how to cast the spell and demonstrated _"Now you do it."_

Fawn did it immediately and noticed how her mana pool filled up but also at how her life had gone down _"I can see how it would be easy enough to kill yourself doing this."_

" _As I say, it's for when you need mana quickly such as when you're in a fight."_

" _Wouldn't that put you in more danger?"_

" _It can do but then it may also save you. If you need mana to cast a spell that stops your attacker then a small sacrifice of life is what saves you but it also has it's opposite. We can drain the life of a living thing to top up ours."_ She explained how then pointed to a deer that had wondered into the clearing _"Try it."_

Fawn lifted her hand, extending her consciousness to get a feel for the life of the deer and pulled. The deer let out a startled bleat, started to leap away but then collapsed upon the ground dead. Her heart pounding and her eyes wide she turned to her mentor _"Couldn't we do that to any opponent?"_

Sapphire shook her head _"No. All living things fight to keep their life. That deer was young and weak and so taking its life was easy. The stronger the being the more effort it takes to get that life from them and you may not be able to get any from someone more powerful than yourself. That latter is true of all of your spells. They simply may not land on someone more powerful."_

" _What do we do with the deer now? It feels wrong just to kill her like that and then leave her."_

 _Emielice looked at her "Good. Respect for life will help you to prevent the corruption that is inherent in the use of the Fel but don't worry that she died for nothing."_ She pointed to where Elanna was leaving the campsite _"We'll be having venison for dinner and Elanna will probably use the leather for something as well."_

Fawn caught the look that Sapphire gave her and twitched her ears. Then, reaching up she said _"I may have the ears and tail of a fawn but I'm not a deer."_ And she smiled - showing her k9s.

They stopped at the next point and Sapphire quickly set the ward _"We'll take turn about."_ She said and then started walking again.

" _If there are many types of magic that I'd never heard of… then how did I become a warlock?"_

Emie considered the question _"Fel magic is Chaos itself and lends itself to those who seek power. This seeking of power is why warlocks aren't trusted."_ She waited until Fawn nodded _"For yourself you were in a chaotic and stressful instant where it could be said that you were reaching for power to allow yourself some control over your own life. This, I believe is part of why you reached for fel magic. The other part, and possibly the greater part, is that your soul remembered from when I resurrected you. It already knew the feel of the fel and, like many things, took the path that it knew."_

" _Should I change to other magics? Could I change?"_

" _I don't see any reason to. You use the power but you don't let it control you. The warlocks that you don't want to trust are the ones that were corrupted before they started using the fel. The person who helped the Orcs invade Azeroth using fel magic was a corrupted human mage known as The Guardian. His job was to protect Azeroth."_

Fawn nodded in understanding _"How did you become a warlock if I may ask?"_

Sapphire considered _"Very similar to you although, I didn't die in the process."_ She said quietly then with more force _"Some bad men set upon me and I instinctively reached for power, wanting to rip the life from them."_ She smiled grimly _"Your first spells were Life Tap followed by Immolate while mine was Drain Life also followed by Immolate."_ She banished the memories and went on _"It was rather embarrassing actually as until then I'd been training to become a priest but I hadn't yet been initiated into magic use."_

" _You couldn't use magic?"_

" _At that time I hadn't tried although it was assumed that I would eventually. I knew about magic of course. Not everyone on Azeroth uses it but it's fairly common and priests are certainly major users of it. Priest training included telling us about all forms of magic. The Arcane of mages, the Holy Light of priests and paladins and the Fel of warlocks."_ She looked up and away then back again _"Warlocks are not trusted on Azeroth. Accepted, but not trusted as the Fel does corrupt both physically and mentally."_ She paused as Fawn set the next ward then started walking, quiet for a time _"So there's me. Youngest daughter of a minor noble house of Gilneas training to become a priest using fel magics." Her voice went rough and hard "Warlocks are not trusted on Azeroth and noble warlocks even less so."_ She shrugged and her voice returned to normal _"When I got back to the monastery the place was in an uproar. The bodies I'd left behind had been discovered and, because they were of a somewhat more noble house than me, there was a huge search going on for those responsible."_ She smiled grimly _"The commotion allowed me to slip back to my room and tell Elanna what had happened. We went to the Head Priest which… resulted in the whole thing being hushed up, my family disowning me, my vow of silence and then smuggling myself out of Gilneas."_

" _Why would you have needed to be smuggled out?"_

 _Emielice set the next Ward "In the fight against the Scourge the Gilneans had cut themselves off from the rest of the world. Built a huge wall and even stopped water freight despite having a large set of docks."_ She snorted her contempt at that. _"In such conditions smugglers thrive and my disownment had come with a sizable pouch of gold. The hard part was finding the smugglers and then teaching them that they shouldn't try to take… liberties. Freight only. And I needed to get out for my own safety. The other noble family may have said that they wouldn't do anything but there was no way I was going to trust that. Not after the attack itself."_

" _If you said a vow of silence then what allowed you to talk?"_

" _Elanna had persuaded me to put in an out clause. That clause activated and the vow removed when you used fel magics."_ Her face took on a faraway look _"I never expected that clause to activate."_ She said quietly then shook herself and continued with her story _"I made my way to Stormwind and The Slaughtered Lamb where my training as a warlock truly began."_ She looked about her _"This is the last ward. You set it and remember to connect it to both the last one and the one in front of us so as to close the circle. Then we'll get you to summon and contract your imp."_

Fawn grinned _"I get my own demon at last?"_

Emie grinned back _"Yes, you get your own demon at last. Normally you would have got your imp before you were allowed out in the world but we've had to… adjust your training schedule because of your previous experience and your lack of knowledge on magic in general. You've been doing well though and your power is growing rapidly."_

—

Morning dawned clear with sunlight streaming through the trees and the birds filling the area with birdsong. Despite the general feeling of cheerfulness, the camp was quiet as each considered the revelations of the night before.

"This Ozpin, this wizard, is the person at the Academy that we were on our way to see?" Kashaahri asked

"Yes." Said Sapphire.

Ahri nodded "We have to decide if this new knowledge changes our path in any way."

"I don't see that it would." Said Elanna "We were on our way to see him any way and so we're still going to see him. It's more a question of if Sapphire gives him his power back when we see him and what, if any, difference that will make to her own power."

"I agree." Said Emie "We still have to do what we've been tasked with and this Ozpin seems to be an even better person to talk to with regards to that."

"You don't think talking to the council will help?" asked Ahri

"From what we know of the political system, their wars and the fact that the Maidens exist but have been hidden then I doubt that the council even knows what's truly going on." Emie said "I wouldn't speak to them until after we've spoken with this 'Ozpin' and get a better feel for how they're likely to… react."

Everyone looked at her but it was Fawn that broke the silence by putting their thoughts into words "Damn."

"We were going to have to be careful who we talked to anyway." Said Ahri "But your point is well made. Any other comments?"

"I'm want to give the wizard his power back." Sapphire said suddenly and everyone looked at her "Since the vision last night I've become acutely aware of the… foreignness… of the wizards magic and want it gone." She looked at Allarae "I'm going to want your help to… shape… the spell to remove it."

"Of course but I don't think we should remove it just yet."

"Why not?"

"Because the wizard shaped it so that it would go to a young maiden. If we released it now it would simply go to another maiden and I don't think that's the best option. We want it to go to the wizard and stop this hunting of young women that he's unwittingly forced upon them by those who simply want power."

"I… yes… I see what you mean."

"And to do that we're going to need his help to reshape it. It is his power after all. We could do some preparation now though."

"How long will it take?" asked Ahri

"A few hours, maybe until lunchtime."

"Good. That will give the rest of us time to look around these ruins." She turned to Sapphire "Do you think you could find more information about this place if you returned to Shadowed Dawn?"

"I doubt it. Even though they have a good library for a place so out of the way it's highly unlikely that they'll have information on a settlement that, from all appearances, died out centuries ago. The two chances of finding anything about it is either upon my scroll and that's not going to happen until such time as I can get reliable contact with the information banks or from the library in the main city."

Kashaahri nodded "Ok then. Meet back here at lunch time."

—

In unspoken agreement they moved off in different directions. The two warlocks going left and the two Draenei going right.

Elanna moved straight ahead, moving slowly towards the town centre where three or four large buildings once stood. She moved carefully, taking her time ensuring that she neither disturbed anything nor missed seeing anything. She moved up the ancient paths and roads, stepped into what were obviously small living quarters. Finding nothing of interest she moved on and entered what she assumed to be the town square.

There were the remains of a large building to either side of her but the large building in front of her drew her attention and she stopped. It was mostly intact under the spreading branches of the great trees surrounding it and there was something… familiar about it… and then she was down on all fours and running not even aware that she'd taken on full Worgen form. She reached the main entrance and stopped. Sounds and smell told her that her companions were approaching from both sides and… neither of the Remnants knew of her curse yet and she wasn't yet ready for them to do so. Calming herself she quickly shifted back to her human form. Moments later she heard the other four meet outside the entrance, greet each other and then move into the entrance where she was.

"Something catch your eye?" Kashaahri asked

She ignored the question and said, "This is a temple." She turned to the others "And the architecture is, if I'm not mistaken, Night Elven."

"That can't be." Said Fawn "There are no Night Elves on Remnant."

"It's possible that it's simply a coincidence but I don't think so." She looked at Kashaahri "You feel the Holy power here as well?"

Ahri nodded "It's weak but it's here. More an echo of rights performed long ago."

"The Night Elves got their architecture from their Goddess. Their Goddess is, at the very least, a Titan and the Titans spent eons going from world to world throughout the Great Dark looking for others of their kind."

"You think she came here?"

Elanna nodded "Possibly. We need to look more. If this is Her temple then there's going to be at least some symbolism here and hopefully something a little more solid as proof. If those aren't here then we may have to rely on the records in the major kingdoms…" she trailed off and then shook herself and moved into the inner sanctum with the others following her.

The four Azerothians came to a complete halt.

"What?" asked Fawn

"This…" Daal took a deep breath "This could be a copy of the Temple of the Moon back in Darnassus which itself is a copy of even older temples. The moonwell in the centre with a statue holding up a representation of the moon. Although, it looks like the statue has fallen over." And she pointed to the far side of the moonwell. "The trees around the moonwell and the upper gallery are the same as well."

Elanna moved forward, tasting the water "This may have been a moonwell at some point but it is no longer. Centuries without worship has drained any power it may have had." She continued around the pool rapidly while the others followed more slowly and because of this Elanna got the first good look at the statue. The others heard her in-drawn breath and then watched as she went down on one knee. The Azerothians understood why when they got there and remained silent.

"It's a statue of a Night Elf." Said Fawn

"It's not a statue of a Night Elf but of the Goddess herself." Said Allarae. She pointed "These rays are to show Her Holy Light. It's said that no mortal can look upon her in her full form because of that Light and even when She lessens it so that mortals can look upon her it's still difficult to truly see her. The Goddess moulded the Night Elves into her likeness."

—

They'd looked around after their discovery of the temple but found nothing else of worth. No records or even a clue as to how long since the settlement had been abandoned. Deep in their own thoughts the explorers returned to the camp where they found the two mages discussing magic and its uses. Allarae also had her gem crafting equipment out and some samples of the translucent mana from the undead wyrm.

Allarae looked up "What did you find?"

"A temple to Elune." Said Ahri.

Both of the mages swung round to face the team leader at that. "What?" came the surprised question from Sapphire. "How did a temple to Elune get here?"

"We can only surmise at the moment." Said Elanna "We know the Titans travelled the Great Dark, going from world to world looking for others of their kin. Knowing that we can assume that any one of them could have stopped here in their journeys. The temple indicates that at least one did and that she made contact with at least some of the people here."

"And we don't even know if Elune is a Titan." Said Allarae

"What do you mean you don't know?" asked Fawn

"There is evidence that suggests that she is but there is also evidence to suggest that she isn't. All of it, at best, is circumstantial but we do know that she's not listed in the Titan Pantheon. Then there are the Wild Gods and the Loa that the Trolls worship, the demons and the Void Lords all of which opens up the possibility that She is something else." Allarae shrugged "We know a lot about the Titans but we don't know everything and we know even less about some of the others."

"What makes you think that it is a temple to Elune?" Asked Sapphire

It was fawn that answered "Oh, the statue of a Night Elf with rays of light depicted coming from her. Elanna tells us that it's a fairly standard depiction of the Goddess."

"Yes, that is a fairly standard depiction." Allarae said as she pulled a small statue of the goddess out of her bag to show the Remnants. "Was the statue like this?"

"Yes." Said Fawn

Silence descended upon the group before Ahri changed the subject by asking "How were your own endeavours?"

Allarae remained silent so Sapphire answered "We believe we've got the spell to remove the wizard's essence from me. We'd then been talking about Dust and its different types. Which had led to her then bringing out that translucent Dust and trying a few cuts to produce 'gems'." She pulled her sword and showed the new gem slot on it "Allarae tells me that it boosts spell strength and stamina." She cringed slightly "I really don't like this stuff - it feels like death."

"That would be a good description of its… source."

"That one is a small prototype which is why I could attach it to Sapphire's sword but even so it's fairly powerful." Said Allarae "I'm thinking that combining it with some of this worlds materials we could make some fairly strong armour and weapons. Daal?"

"I could try a transmutation. Perhaps similar to how I transmute Arcanite. I'd need a few examples of the local metals."

"I grabbed a few when I went to the smithy to make Janus' sword." Ahri pulled a few samples out. "This is their steel. Different proportions than what we use but essentially the same. This other is interesting. It's an alloy of many different metals that they call 'stainless steel'. It's stronger than steel and less brittle but also heavier."

"I doubt I could do anything more with the steel than I can already do. That 'stainless steel' could be interesting though." She took some of the metal from Ahri and some Dust from Allarae. Then while she slowly moves each over one another and concentrates. Power builds over several seconds and then suddenly the two become one. She held up the resultant bar of translucent metal for inspection "Well, that was easier than expected." Then handed it back to Ahri.

She closely inspected it "It's lighter than what it was and I think I'll need more than we have available to make anything from it. Even a dagger will require more." She stopped the inspection and placed it in her bag "Still, we're starting to get some practical results from our experimenting which is good."

Sapphire said "One of the old ways of using Dust was to weave it into clothes. It was supposed to be very powerful but required an exceptionally strong will to utilise it effectively and so very few people used it that way." She looked around the off worlders "Is all your gear like this?"

"Yes, all out gear has some sort of magical boost to it. In fact, quite a lot of our power is tied up in our gear. From what we've seen so far we get more power from our gear than what the Hunters get from using Dust. It does have to be replaced fairly often as we get more powerful."

"So that would be two ways that you're more powerful then." Everyone looked at Fawn inviting further explanation "First, like Sapphire you have magic which makes you more powerful as it makes Sapphire more powerful. Then you have your gear which is more powerful than Dust as well. How much power does your gear account for?"

"It accounts for about two thirds of an individual's strength." Said Allarae

"Two thirds?" Fawn gasped "Even when we get to your level, we still won't be able to touch you."

"Oh, I wouldn't say that." Smiled Elanna "By the time you get to our level we will have you geared out but, like the Dust woven gear that Sapphire mentioned, you have to be powerful just to wear the gear that we can make with the materials that we brought with us."

"That's right, you gave Janus some."

"That was some very old materials and designs that I had available on me. It was more by chance that I even had it." Said Ahri "And although we will gear you up with what we have we don't have enough to gear either of you completely hence why we're experimenting. You need to level up and we need to learn how to make gear that you'll be able to wear once you do."

—

As they mounted Ahri asked Sapphire "Any ideas as to where the next settlement is?"

"If we keep heading north, we should come across either Higanbana or Shione. Both are well established villages on the main road so we should be able to pick up news and supplies there."

"You think your scroll will be working there?"

"It's possible. Well established towns tend to have better maintenance to keep their transmitters working and to get them back up quicker after a grimm attack."

—

The Light flowed down into the rock, questing, seeking ever deeper until it touched upon the remnant of the world soul. It was there but not truly so as it had never received the Spark of Life that would have turned it into a living soul. Now the Light of Elune cocooned it and gave it that Spark.

The soul stirred as it slowly came to an awareness of itself. Awareness of the mountains, seas and air upon its surface and the life that populated those areas of itself. It became aware of the Light that flowed into it and it reached and touched that Light, held to it.

"Mother? Mother. The pain."

The Light grew in power projecting welcome, comfort, and knowledge. Telling of the protectors, the heroes, that she'd sent to help the child.

—

Upon the surface of Remnant all life came to a standstill. Even the wind seeming to pause and quieten for just a second. The people also felt the change that echoed around the world. Those awake paused in their activities while others stirred in their sleep.

Most shrugged and continued on, happier in themselves and that showing through in their dealings with others, but barely even registering the change. Others felt the change more fully, instinct telling them that something fundamental had changed. Welcoming the change but not understanding it - not yet.

Others felt that change and their fears grew.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven - Awakening**

"My suggestion" said Elanna "is that we set down outside of bow range and then walk in."

"We've certainly drawn their attention and they don't look happy about it." Said Emielice

"They think that we're grimm." Said Sapphire "We're close enough to be seen but not close enough to identify and nobody else has flying creatures that look like these."

Kashaahri looked at the walled town before them, watched as the people grabbed weapons and manned the walls "I think that's probably true and the best way to approach without becoming a pin cushion."

They flew down to the road, dismounted and began their walk in. In front of them the town's gate opened and a small group of armed men stepped out and came towards them.

"Looks like we get a greeting party." Said Fawn

"A well armed one." Said Daalorisa

—

The town had closed the gates and gone to arms as soon as grimm had been sighted flying in. By the time the sergeant had got to the top of the wall with binoculars the creatures that had been flying in were simply hovering. He couldn't recognise any of them but they didn't really look like grimm and they had riders. Then they'd landed, well outside of weapons range, and vanished leaving the riders casually walking in.

He figured that walking in was a sign that these people weren't hostile but, considering what had happened to Shione a while back, he wasn't taking chances. He'd grabbed four of his best fighters and headed out the gate making sure that it was closed behind them and that his second knew not to let them in without him being with them in good health.

Now he stood at the halfway mark with his men behind him and was wondering if he should have brought more. He was a big man himself but found that he had to look up at their leader who stood a pace in front of him. Her armour and the way she walked told him that she knew how to handle herself. A quick look around at the others and their weapons indicated that they too, despite the lack of armour, were capable of looking after themselves.

He looked back to the leader, into her unnaturally glowing eyes "Who, what, are you and what do you want?"

Kashaahri smiled at him and ignored his second question "We're a small group of adventurers tasked with escorting an emissary" she moved her hand to indicate Sapphire "from Shadowed Dawn to other towns regarding bandits that recently attacked them."

"They survived?"

"They did although it was close. The grimm attack that came after almost breached the walls."

"That's good to hear. Shione, a village just north of us, didn't survive a similar attack." He considered then quietly said "I'd like to do something about those bandits myself but my job is to protect this town. So no funny business while you here." He glared at her but she just stood calmly "If the town wants to do something about them that would be up to the councillors and so I suppose I'll have to pass you on."

"That would be much appreciated." Said Sapphire "Is there a place we can stay while we're here?"

—

The First Council looked up as the door opened to admit his secretary "The emissary from Shadowed Dawn is here, sir."

"Show them in please." Then stood and walked round his desk to greet his guests.

The secretary showed in Sapphire and Kashaahri then introduced them "This is Sapphire, the emissary from Shadowed Dawn" he reached out and shook her hand "and this is Kashaahri, her guard." He turned to the other, looked up and almost took a step back at the eyes. He recovered quickly but it was obvious that his hesitation had been noted although she seemed more amused than anything. He nodded to her and then turned back to Sapphire "Please, be seated" as he indicated the chair in front of his desk while he returned behind the desk "What can I do to help you?"

"We here for a number of reasons. In fact, we're really only passing through on our way to Vale. First is to open discussions between towns about dealing with the bandits that have been attacking them. The second is for information regarding what happened at the Vytal Tournament, what has happened at Vale since and why communications are down."

"Do you know what happened at Shione?"

"The guard mentioned it but didn't give us any details."

"Apparently, and we got this from four Hunters that passed through and talked to a survivor there, a whole bandit tribe had attacked. Killed a few people, destroyed some buildings, grabbed what they wanted and then left." He grimaced "Not long after the bandit attack the grimm moved in and finished off the whole town. Unfortunately, the survivor died from his wounds not long after the Hunters talked to him. Is that what happened to Shadowed Dawn?"

"Similar though we don't think it was the whole tribe. It was a smash and grab on the Dust store with minimal casualties and damage. The grimm moved in to attack in force afterwards though."

"How much force?"

"Several hundred. We were losing until Ahri and her group turned up and dragged them off of us."

He looked to the tall faunus suspicion clearly showing in his voice "And how did you do that?"

"We came in behind them and took out their leadership." Said Ahri "This caused the ones attacking the village to turn on us but, with the leaders gone they were simply a mob which was easy to kill and many simply turned and ran."

"I didn't even know that the grimm had leadership."

"It appears that older, stronger ones can control the younger ones to some degree. The younger ones are, of course, also a lot easier to kill."

He considered himself good at judging people and didn't detect any lies or even exaggeration from her "Will you be part of the force that goes after the bandits?"

"That hasn't been decided yet." Said Sapphire "After all, we still need to determine where the bandits are, the force level required to take them on and what other villages are going to provide to assist the effort. If there isn't enough support we aren't going to send off our people to simply die."

He looked at her and nodded "Yes, I do suppose I was getting ahead of myself there. I know the guard want to find them and take them down but, like you, we don't have enough strength to do so."

"That's the thinking. Individually none of the towns do but if we band together we can probably put together a force that can. Some from the guard of each town plus hiring a few Hunters should do it."

"What happened to Shione and now Shadowed Dawn indicates that we do need to do something else towns are going to keep disappearing." He grimaced again "Makes one question how many of the previous towns we thought were destroyed by grimm were actually destroyed by bandits. Still, even if we do make up a credible force we need to be able to find them. I doubt any of the towns would be able to support such a large force for an extended time period especially if we're hiring hunters."

"We… may have an ace in the hole there." He raised an eyebrow at her "We caught a couple of their agents after the attack."

He almost choked on his coffee "How did you manage that?"

"After we'd seen off the grimm we ended up with a murder charge levelled at the mayor. Apparently he thought he could use the confusion of the attack to eliminate a witness to his previous… dealings. During court he, with the assistance of some others, attacked the council. That attack was successfully subdued and the two survivors taken into custody along with the mayor. When we left the mayor was facing the death sentence while the two others were being kept for information."

"The mayor?" the councillor was having trouble keeping the shock off his face or out of his voice.

"Yes. It appears that he'd been working with the bandits for some time. The two taken into custody were actually the towns deputies that had been hired by him. Everyone has a price but in his case it seemed to be fairly low. According to them the bandits have a fairly significant intelligence network utilising both on the ground agents in some towns and agents disguised as travelling merchants."

The councillor shook his head "We're not talking about a raid here and there but an ongoing war. One that we just didn't realise that we were in. I'm going to have to take it to the rest of the council but I'm going to recommend that we join this force with as much support as we can. How long are you going to be here?"

"We're planning on heading to Vale in the morning but if you have anything you want us to pass on before we go we can take it to them without significant interruption to our journey north."

"How can you do that?"

"We can open a temporary portal between here and there that will allow us to make the journey back instantly." Said Ahri.

"Well, that reinforces the tale of the barmaid who said she saw someone disappear into a red mist as it proves that it's possible. That wasn't you I take it?"

"No, none of my team have been here before."

"Don't suppose you could make it permanent? It would make communicating a lot easier while the CCT is still down."

"The CCT is down?" asked Sapphire

"Ah, right. One of the questions you had was in regard to communications. Yes, the CCT tower at Beacon Academy was destroyed the night of the grimm attack on Vale. As I understand it that's stopped all wireless communication between the continents and outside the kingdoms themselves. The lack of communications is hurting us which is why I'd be interested in a way to improve communications, especially one that would be as hard to intercept as a portal."

"The council of Shadowed Dawn believes that grimm activity has been increasing of late hence why they insisted that I have such a heavy guard. If true that would make communications even more difficult."

"Yes, we can make it permanent but it's expensive in very exotic materials, would need to be in a secure location and we'd need permission from Shadowed Dawn as well." Said Ahri "Such a secure location was set up in Shadowed Dawn so we could return as needed and we're the only ones that know how at the moment. We could set up another locus for a temporary portal the same way here but it would still be only us that could use it."

"Something else to take to the council. Would you be able to do that before you leave?"

"We could do the temporary one this afternoon if you have a secure location for it but, as I say, we'd need to get Shadowed Dawn's permission for the permanent one."

"And could you teach someone from here to create the portal?"

"That would be more difficult as it's one of my team's Semblance."

"That does make it difficult." He sighed "Sometimes I really do wish that Semblances could be taught. If we can't have a permanent portal having others able to do the same trick would be great. It would be a security concern but probably a manageable one. I'll talk to them about it and get back to you… How expensive?"

"About two million lien and that doesn't count the work you'd have to do to set up the areas."

The councillor whistled "As you say, expensive but probably worth it. How many people can go through at a time?"

"One and they can only take what they can carry."

He nodded "As I say, probably manageable on the security. I'll talk to the council and push for it. There was something else you wanted to talk about?"

"Do you have any more information about what's happening in Vale?" asked Sapphire

"Little more than rumours really. The Hunters that came through from Vale seemed to think that the atrocities that we saw during the Vytal Tournament were engineered to provoke the grimm attack by the same people who took control of the transmission and made that… inciteful broadcast… after it. The Hunters also say that the headmaster of Beacon was killed as well." He shrugged "We've had no confirmation from the Vale council either way."

"And the people?"

"The Hunters have secured the city itself but I believe that they're still working on taking back control of Beacon from the grimm. Are you sure you still want to go there?"

"It… does sound like we may need to change our plans."

—

The team were in the bigger of the two rooms that they'd secured at the inn. Sitting or standing in the close confines as they listened to what Ahri and Sapphire had to say about what they'd learned with the First Council.

"So, this Ozpin is dead?" asked Elanna

"That's the rumour." Sapphire hesitantly said "But the news was brought by some Hunters that were part of the tournament itself and were Beacon students as well. They were there when it all went down and helped fight back the grimm attack so we can probably accept it as being accurate."

Allarae said "But you don't believe that he's dead?" It was a statement more than a question.

"No." She shrugged "When I did the vision quest with you and we determined that he was the wizard I got the distinct feeling that he was still alive. We did that weeks after his reported death."

Allarae was thoughtful for a moment "When I first learned that technique from the Lorewalker it was to find a missing person. To find his location and his wellbeing." She looked to Sapphire "There's only enough potion for one more try and you know him best." Sapphire nodded "You'll want to focus on his location, what he looks like…"

"What he looks like?"

"We're going to have to assume some sort of reincarnation so he will most likely look different." She waited until Sapphire nodded again "And you'll want to try to identify any companions with him. When we get to wherever he is we're going to have to search the old fashioned way and the more people to search for the easier it will be."

"Well, I suppose the sooner we start the…" she stopped as a knock came at the door.

Daalorisa opened the door "Yes?"

"I've come for…" the person looked around the room and, spotting Sapphire, bowed "Emissary, the First Council is willing to give the council's response to matters that you brought up."

"Of course, secretary." She returned a courteous nod to the secretary's bow "We'll be along in a few minutes." The secretary nodded and then backed out of the room and Daal closed the door again.

"More disrespect for the faunus." Said Daal

"There are some like that on Azeroth as well you know." Said Ahri

With her tail twitching she said "It is… irritating."

"True but it's not something we can change. That's going to have to happen between the faunus and the humans here."

Sapphire sighed loudly "As much as I appreciate your concern about relations between human and faunus, and I myself would like it to be better, I believe that we should get to the council offices."

"What do you think his reply is going to be?" asked Ahri

"I'm pretty sure that the council is going to agree with the hunting of the bandits." She grinned "I really don't think that the council had any real say. As the First Council said, this is a long, ongoing war that they just didn't realise they were part of and he's told them what his decision is in this matter." Ahri nodded "I'm also sure that they're going to ask for that teleportation locus which is why Allarae is going with us as well. After that, well, we'll be back to finding our wizard."

—

The seven of them sat at a large table at the inn. Most of them were yawning as if they hadn't got a good night's sleep. Some were picking desultorily at their food. Kashaahri finished her meal and put down her eating implements.

"It doesn't look like any of you got a good night's sleep. Are the beds too soft for you perhaps?"

"Huh." Said Allarae "Like you I don't use the beds as they're too short." She grinned "But at least they don't creak whenever I sit on them."

"Bad dreams." Said Fawn

"What dreams?" Asked Allarae

"Of a desolate plain upon which darks pools were scattered. There were dark crystals growing out of the ground and grimm emerging from the pools and all under a blood-red sky."

"That's the same dream I had." Said Sapphire "But I got a feeling of pain coming from the pools."

"Did you all have the same dream?" Asked Ahri

Most nodded yes but Elanna said "No. I dreamed of an awakening Titan child that needed protection and guidance." She looked meaningfully at Ahri "As I suspect that you did as well."

"What does it all mean?" Asked Fawn "All of us having the same dream?"

"It means" said Allarae as she looked at Ahri "that we probably need a Bronzebeard."

"I don't see what a beards got to do with it no matter its colour."

"The Bronzebeard's are the ruling clan of Ironforge." Said Elanna "The previous king set up the Explorer's League which is a main source of the information we have about the Titans. The information that they've uncovered over the years appears to indicate that Azeroth has a soul, the World Soul. The previous King, Magni, died using a ritual to try to commune with that soul. We went to his funeral."

"Why?"

"Why wouldn't we? He was a good man, a strong warrior and a fine King." Said Ahri "It was a moving ceremony."

"Oh, great. Become an Adventurer and hobnob with Kings, Queens and" as she glared at another customer that was indelicately eyeing her up "other lowlifes." She turned back to Ahri "No, why would we need a Bronzebeard?"

"Oh, there's their extensive knowledge of the earth and titan history. Also, they're dwarfs whom are descended from the Earthen and because of that have a much better rapport with the earth."

"And which, unless you've got one stuffed in your pack, we don't have." Said Emielice "Which means that we'll just have to make do with our own, humble, selves. Which, if we're right by the way, the World Soul is already communicating with."

"Aye, there is that. Perhaps a search for a better location at some point. The Explorers League always found the Titan and Keeper ruins to be places of power but Remnant doesn't appear to have such ruins. These pools that are causing the Child pain may be such a place though."

"Perhaps meditating will allow better communications but if it's really only a child then communication, no matter what we do, is going to be difficult. Probably limited to visions and vague feelings." Said Allarae

"What I want to know is why you two got a different dream than the rest of us." Said Sapphire

"Different source." Said Emielice. Sapphire raised her eyebrow in question "Paladin, priest? Ringing any bells here? Both are connected to the Light. We got our dreams from the World Soul. They got theirs from the Light and, considering Her temple that we found, probably from Elune Herself. Protecting the child is probably why we got sent here."

"Ah, that makes sense."

"Probably more sense than protecting the humans and faunus from the grimm as we first thought." Said Elanna "Cleansing those pools that are causing the Child pain are going to be a high priority and once we do there may not be any more grimm."

"Our first priority is to get to Shadowed Dawn and report what we've found out as our quest requires." Said Ahri "After that I believe that we'll be going to Mistral to find the wizard."

—

"Thank you doctor." Said Catalina "That was an excellent report and it's good to know that the clinic is in good hands. Now we'll move onto security, Janus?"

"Thank you, first Councillor. We've extended the number of deputies we have as we now have someone watching our guests at all times. This is an increase from before the raid when we almost never had any prisoners to watch full time. Having two prisoners who are accomplished bandits demanded better security."

The rest of the council nodded as Gorg asked "What is the condition of the walls?"

"The walls are almost completed. We've had to totally replace some sections due to damage and we've added some watch towers but even with those extras costs have still come in under budget." He smiled grimly "I suspect some of that is due to the decline in trade that we've seen as well our citizens desire as well to give extra so that we can have a good wall. The raid has made the citizens more aware that we do need good defences."

"Mention of the raid brings up the next question. Have we found where the bandits are located?"

"Not as yet. We hired a Hunter and gave him the directions that we got from our prisoners to where he should look but only found an abandoned camp. We know that the bandit tribe are nomads and move semi-regularly to prearranged locations and even to locations that they've used before. They don't appear to be in any of those known locations. We think that something spooked them and that they've gone to ground somewhere. Unfortunately, our guests are no longer as talkative as they were."

"And the militia?"

"Since the raid the militia has had an influx of volunteers. Enough in fact that I've had to hire an extra staff member to help with the training."

"You've increased the number of training hours?" asked Treeshaper

"Not as yet. So far, I've only had to increase class size but that necessitated an assistant to ensure that everyone got the best training. So far we haven't had to increase hours but if we keep getting militia volunteers then we may have to."

"The assistant that you hired?"

"He's ex-military who retired here and joined the militia…" He stopped at a knock on the door and the secretary entered.

"I'm sorry to disturb you councillors but the Azerothians have returned."

"Ah, good, can you show them in please?" asked the First Councillor

"Of course, ma'am." He waved in Kashaahri and Sapphire then closed the door as he left.

"Please, have a seat. We've just about finished up with this…" She looked questioningly at Janus

"Pretty much. In fact, the last piece has to do with some concerns that the Azerothians brought to my attention before they left. I'd like to address that now?"

"As you wish and then we shall hear from Kashaahri and Sapphire after which I believe it will be time to break for lunch."

Janus nodded "Before the Azerothians left on their task they brought my attention to some dark whispers concerning the Azerothians that were making the rounds." He paused "Considering the conditions that applied at the time I thought it wise to investigate these whispers to see if anything came from them and thus be able to act if we needed to. I'm glad to say that the whispers stopped within a couple of days. Very few people were willing to give any credence to them in the first place and that number dropped significantly after they left flying dragons.

"So that would be the end of that matter then?" Asked Gorg

"Mostly, yes." Janus paused "The rumours have stopped and the instigator seems to have stopped even trying to convince others of his beliefs of the Azerothians but he's also taken to visiting our guests and it was after the first visit that they clammed up."

"Are you saying that he was working with them?" asked Catalina

"I don't believe so. I believe the bandits were telling us the truth when they said that there was only them and the 'trade delegates'. No, I think this… person… is just looking for ways to make himself right when he's obviously wrong and nobody believes him. To do this he's reached out to the bandits and they've jumped on a possible escape route from death or life imprisonment."

"Understood." She paused in thought "Visits to the prisoners is now cancelled on security grounds and I'll have you remind them that their continued good health is dependent upon their continued cooperation. Is there anything else?"

"No. That's it. The militia is doing well and their training is coming along apace. We've been in contact with some of the local towns about the bandits and many have agreed that it's time to do something about them. From here on it's going to be finding the bandits camp and coordinating between towns so as to make a decisive strike at them."

"That's good to hear." Her gaze shifted back to Sapphire "Can you tell us how successful you've been in our requests?"

"Of course." She pulled a binder out of her bag and handed in to the First Council "This is everything that Higanbana is suggesting as far as dealing with the bandits and trade. Telecommunications are down because of…"

—

As they walked back to the inn from the council chambers Janus said, "I spoke to my dead wife." He glanced at Kashaahri "There wasn't a lot of time before she moved on but she asked one question and made observation."

"And they were?"

"She asked why the river was carrying Light and then said that the Light of Elune had freed her, allowing her to move on." He glanced again but those glowing eyes still told him nothing "And, then, last night I had a dream about a child that needed protecting, a child that had just awoken or had just _been_ awoken. I'm not really sure which."

"Elune does seem to have taken interest in Remnant. In fact, some evidence we discovered shows that She took an interest several centuries ago. Unfortunately, the town and temple had fallen to wrack and ruin leaving little behind." She paused in her walking and turned to Janus "It was definitely a temple to Elune but we know nothing more than that. We're hoping that we can find out more once we get to one of the academies. With Beacon overrun we're going to Mistral and the Haven Academy instead."

"And the child?"

Kashaahri started walking again "The Child is your world, Remnant. She is a Titan and She has just awoken. As young as She is She is vulnerable to attack from malicious entities. She's going to need protection and that protection is going to have to come from the people of this world. The Azeroth World Soul was latched onto by the Old Gods sent by the Void Lords and so our job is to prevent that or anything similar from happening here."

"You want us to fight gods?"

"We defeated one of the Old Gods not that long ago." She looked meaningfully at him "As I told you before, you're strong enough to defeat demons and the two are not that dissimilar."

"You're stronger than I am."

"Experience and gear will see to that. Even now you're stronger than you were and you have only minimal gear." She glanced at him "It's probably time to start gearing you properly now that we have access to suitable materials."

They reached the inn and stepped into the common room. Finding the rest of the team seated at one of the larger, more secluded corner tables they walked towards them. As they sat at the table Sapphire asked "Where's Fawn?"

"Upstairs getting changed." Said Emielice "I made her and you some new gear." She tossed a wrapped bundle to Sapphire "I suggest you go get changed as well."

"You know" said Fawn as she came down the stairs "I don't think that I've worn a dress since the orphanage." The look on Fawn's face was torn between showing her distaste of dresses and the pleasure of knowing that she was now better dressed than at any other time in her life. "And I really don't know how it's going to go with the sword."

"Well, it's not as if you use the sword. It's what we call a 'stat stick' that adds power to your abilities but little to nothing to your actual combat capability."

"True. What I'd like is a staff like yours."

Sapphire looked at what the faunus was wearing. The dark, long flowing robes, shoulders and the deep cowl which seemed to give the young warlock glowing, blood red eyes "Am I going to look like that?"

"Similar but in colours more suited to a mage." Said Emielice as she looked at the faunus "Oh, the cowl can be turned off. There's a switch just at the lower left side of the hem." Fawn ran her fingers down the cowl until she felt a magical buzz and pressed, seeing the cowl disappear from her sight. "Most people seem to prefer it that way especially when they're talking to others. Saves the effort of taking it off as well as maintaining the protection that the cowl provides."

"It's only cloth." Said Janus

"Its armour is like your Aura. Although there is some physical strength in the cloth itself most of the armour is not truly physical. Same is true for plate mail but that's even stronger. With both the armour value remains the same until the piece is completely broken at which point it will need to be repaired."

"So, with this on I won't take damage?" Asked Fawn

"No, it doesn't stop all damage just some of it."

Kashaahri nodded "I'll be over at the smithy later making Janus some armour so I'll see if I can make you two a staff each at the same time." She looked at Allarae "How's the jewellery coming?"

"Actually, quite well. The Death Metal that Daal made has proven quite effective for rings of all types depending upon what Dust or combination of Dust that I use with it." She placed several upon the table and pointed at them in turn "These two would be suitable for Janus and other melee fighters." She pushed them to Janus "And these would be suitable for spell casters." She pushed two each to Sapphire and Fawn. "Still working on trinkets and neck."

"You're being wonderfully free with all this gear." Said Janus "It's not that I'm complaining you understand but…"

"As we told Sapphire and Fawn earlier. We try to keep our team well geared as it keeps us all stronger."

"But I'm not part of your team."

Kashaahri grinned at him "Well, we do have to practice. Especially now as we're using materials that we've never used before."

"You have no idea as to how many rings I have in my bags." Moaned Allarae "Most of which I'm hoping can be DE'd to get some materials back."

"You could sell them." Said Janus although he was looking confused with the reference to DE'd.

"I normally would and probably will for some but there's two problems with that. First is that quite a few are simply junk that nobody would want and second is that most people simply couldn't wear them as they're too strong."

Janus nodded "Well, up to you." He turned to Kashaahri "What's your plans for the rest of the day?"

"Mostly just what we've been discussing. Making more gear. If the council approves the permanent portal, we'll put that in and then go to Higanbana to put the portal in there. We'll probably stay there the night and head to Mistral in the morning."

Janus nodded "Well, I've got work to do before I head back to the council chambers. I'll come find you when the decisions been made."

—


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight - Mistral**

They stood upon the high platform looking out over the city of Mistral.

"It's a beautiful city." Said Allarae "Reminds me of Darnassus in many ways."

"And like most cities it has it's dark underbelly." Emielice pointed down "There are advantages to our cause in this in that everything there can be bought for simple coin."

"You don't think that the information we require will be found anywhere else?" asked Sapphire

"Oh, it will be available." She grinned "It just won't be for simple coin."

"Aye. You think we should start our search there?" asked Kashaahri

"No, I think we should split up. You don't… skulk well Ahri. Your, bright, shiny armour and aura of holy righteousness tends to give it away." She smiled at the team leader "Fawn and I will take the lower city."

Fawn summoned her new, translucent, Dust Panther "Lets fly." She said grinning from ear to ear.

"I don't think flying is much in the way of skulking either." She smiled "Put up your cowl."

Fawn dismounted with a resigned sigh "I don't think the cowl goes with skulking either."

"There are two ways to skulk. The first is when you don't want to be seen. The second is when you want to be seen, recognised as belonging and that you're too dangerous to mess with. In this case, we need the latter." She was still smiling but the look in her eyes had chills running down Fawn's spine. And then she put up her own cowl.

—

Kashaahri turned to Sapphire "Do you know where the academy is?"

"It's at the top of the hill. It's the highest point in the city."

"Then I suggest you and I make our way there." She turned to the others "You three get the middle."

—

The two moved from the lift "There seems to be a lot of activity going on." Said Kashaahri

"More than I've seen here before. A lot more guards as well." Sapphire nodded to a groups of guards "I think we should go talk to them before we find ourselves in trouble."

"Aye." As they altered course towards the guards one looked up and pulled his sword. The other with him looked and followed suit and their leader stepped out in front. "They do seem a little jumpy."

"Can I help you?" asked the guard

"We were wondering about all the activity and extra guard presence." Said Sapphire. He looked at her strangely "We only just got in to the city and hadn't heard anything."

"If you weren't here last night then, where were you?"

"In the village Kuroyuri in the foothills not far from Mistral itself."

"I know Kuroyuri. It's a long way to walk in just a morning."

"We didn't walk. We have mounts that made the trip quite rapidly." Sapphire leaned on her staff with one hand and brought out her Hunter ID with the other "The town looks like it was abandoned a long time ago but now some have decided to rebuild it. We shared the workers camp for the night. You could talk to their manager, Cerise."

The guard looked at her and her ID for a few more seconds and then put away his sword, motioning for the others to do so as well "I'll do that."

"Can you tell us what happened here?" asked Kashaahri

"An attack by the White Fang on both the academy and the CCT tower. Thankfully, the faunus of Menagerie got a warning to and enough people to help us to subdue them with minimal violence and casualties. There was only one death, that of the headmaster himself, but at least one and maybe more of the White Fang got away hence the extra guard presence."

"Understandable. We won't be disturbing any investigations or generally getting in people's way if we look around?"

"As long as you stay out of the academy and away from the CCT tower it should be fine. We have investigators still sifting through those places looking for evidence."

"We'll keep that in mind." Said Sapphire "We're looking for some friends of ours." She brought out her scroll "Have you perhaps seen them?"

The guard looked over the pictures "They were part of the defence of the academy but I don't know where they are now, sorry."

Sapphire nodded "Thank you for your time."

—

Sapphire and Kashaahri spent some time asking about the four Hunters but nobody knew where they were. Now the two of them stood in the square in front of the academy looking at the large hole in its front.

"What do you think?" asked Sapphire

"Two attacks. One to hide the second with the second starting first within the building."

"What makes you say that?"

"The timing that we've heard from the witnesses as we've searched for our friends." Kashaahri paused "All the reports we've heard say that the White Fang had placed explosives on the CCT tower but weren't actually attacking the academy. In fact, many reported that some of the Fang were surprised when the fight inside broke out. And after that happened neither side helped the other even though reports have the leader of the Fang talking to one of those from inside."

Sapphire nodded "Two organisations working in collusion but not together." She leaned forward on her staff "That means that there either is or was something within the academy that the other organisation knew about and wanted but that the Fang knew nothing about. Something that the Hunters were defending. Wonder who won."

"Aye. We'll find out when we ask this Ozpin."

"The Fang were just a cat's paw, a distraction to hide the true crime which is still being hidden. I wonder if the guard know that."

"Couldn't say." Kashaahri went quiet "But it appears that our intrepid warlocks have found where our friends are staying. Do you know the address?"

"Yes, and it's not far from here." Sapphire shook her head "Can't believe we missed it."

The two mounted and flew to the address.

—

The three had gone off separately finding it faster than all three going to each stall and asking if the shop owners had seen the people they were looking for. Daalorisa, feeling pulled, had wandered even further away from the others and now sat at a fountain in a park, her hand drifted lazily through the water. Others, both children and adults, wandered across the park, sat in small groups or played together.

Nearby a small group of children playing with a ball, passing it between them using their feet and laughing whenever one of them missed it. In one such pass the ball was moving too fast and bounced off the recipient coming to rest at Daal's feet. The young faunus who had missed the pass scampered after it and Daal pushed it gently back to her with her hoof. The girl grabbed up the ball and, smiling, looked up at Daal and stammered a little when thanking her. Daal smiled back at her and then went on observing the general chaos of the park. When the child got back to her group she said in a loud whisper "She's got glowing eyes." Noises of disbelief quieted quickly as each member of the group tried for a discrete look in Daal's direction only to be confronted with Daal's amused smile and her glowing eyes.

She became aware of a ruckus at the edge of the park, looking that way, she noticed a group of youths dressed in a tabard that showed an animal head with claw marks across it. They were yelling abuse at humans and generally making a nuisance of themselves to those around them. As they walked across the park, they became aware of the group of children which had mixed faunus and human playing together and changed the direction towards the group. As they came closer the group's leader yelled out "Stop abusing those faunus you filthy humans."

The children, frightened by the oncoming youths, grouped together for protection. Interestingly, behind the young faunus who'd come over to get the ball earlier "They're not abusing us. We're playing. Can't you tell the difference brother?"

"I saw them force you to go get the ball while they laughed at you."

"It's part of the game. Any person who fails to catch the ball and pass it on has to go get it. The only person I've seen abusing anybody is you."

His face turning red with rage the brother grabbed the ball out of a young human's hand and threw it hard at the statue at the centre of the fountain where it stuck. He glared at the human "Well? You missed it, you go get it."

As Daal rose from the fountain's edge she said "I think you should leave. Now." She walked towards the youths, an uncompromising expression upon her face.

"And who are you to…" He turned towards Daal and then took a step back when he got a good look at her. He was large and powerful for his age but the woman coming towards him was taller and moved with a grace that belied power. He went back on the offensive "Why do you protect these scum humans who abuse the faunus?"

"I protect all those that seek to live in Harmony with each other as the Elements themselves live in harmony. As these children are doing."

"Humans abuse us. Disrespect us and so we have to fight to get the respect that we deserve."

"I have seen such disrespect but you won't change that with violence and abuse. If anything, you'll cause more antagonism between the races." She now stood in front of the youths "Leave, now."

"TRAITOR!" he yelled as he swung his fist at the Draenei.

Daal moved only enough so as to maintain balance when his fist hit. The fist, on the other hand, came to a sudden stop and the youth jumped back holding his hand with a grimace of pain.

"You broke my hand."

"How did she break your hand when you're the one that threw the punch?" came a voice from a guard who had approached unseen. "The faunus earned respect last night when they stopped the attack by the White Fang. You now continuing that type of attack while wearing the outfit of the Fang won't get anybody respecting you so I suggest you take her advice and leave." The other youths grabbed the leader and lead him away "And think about what happened last night, learn from it about how to build respect." He called after them then turned to Daal and the children "Are you Ok?" they nodded "Ok then, I'll go see them off and make sure that they don't cause any more trouble."

Daal and the children approached the fountain "Now I'm going to have to go get the ball." Said the young faunus as she looked at the deep water.

"You could always ask the Water to help." Said Daal

The children looked at her "You can't just ask the water for help."

Daal smiled "Of course you can. Like this." She turned to the water and a soft hiss came from her, as of water gently rolling over stones in a stream. Nothing happened for a bit but then a small water elemental rose out of the water "And now you can ask for her to hold you up as you go and get the ball."

The young faunus looked at the elemental then, pulling herself together, nodded slightly to it and asked, "Will you hold me up as I go and get the ball?" she pointed to the ball. The elemental looked at the ball and back at the faunus and nodded back. She then climbed on the fountain and stepped out onto the surface of the water. Once assured that it would hold her, she ran across to the statue only to find the ball out of her reach "Higher please" she asked and the water surged, lifting her high enough to reach the ball. Once back on land she turned to the Elemental and thanked her. Then the children ran off, throwing the ball between each other and talking excitedly about what had happened.

"So, this is where you are?" asked Allarae "Learn anything?"

"That there are deep divisions that are going to take a long time to heal if they ever do."

"That seems to be true everywhere but they seem to be able to manage it." She nodded after the children "I suppose we should head off to this Ozpin's place."

—

"Well, your idea of skulking seems to be working. Everybody is seeing us and then avoiding us like the plague." Said Fawn

"Yes." Emielice seemed to be enjoying the reactions "And I believe we've found what we're looking for." She said as she came to a stop.

"I don't see anything different here than anywhere else."

"The spider uses its web to gather information from around it." She noticed the confusion upon the faunus' face "A criminal organisation, like all businesses, need to advertise." She nodded at the wall with a spider web on it as she walked toward the door. "I do believe that we've found the spiders' lair."

—

The room was dark with tables scattered around. Almost all of them were full with people quietly discussing business. Opposite the door was a table with a plump woman sitting on the far side of it with three people standing behind her which gave off the competent aura of bodyguards. Emielice snorted quietly as she walked towards the table. Sitting there would blind anybody with the light coming in the door in such dark surrounds. Competent bodyguards, incompetent criminals. She walked to the table and sat down, motioning for Fawn to stay standing.

"You're the manager?"

"I am but I do like to see who I'm dealing with."

Emielice placed a gold coin on the table "You don't need to know."

One of the bodyguards drew his pistol and pointed it at her "I think I'm going to have to insist."

A whisper in Demonic came from Fawn and the gunman dropped his gun, his eyes going wide in fear and then he ran up the stairs. The manager had gone a whiter shade of pale as well as she heard the language of demons. Such a reaction was seemingly instinctive, everyone had a fear of the dark.

Another gold coin "We're really not here to cause any trouble but… you don't need to know."

"W… wh…" she swallowed "What are you after?"

Another gold coin "We're looking for some friends of ours."

"We may be able to help you there."

Another gold coin "I'm sure that an astute business woman, such as yourself, would be able to find the information, the people, that we're looking for." She tapped Fawn's shoulder who brought out her scroll and showed pictures of Team RWBY "Ah, I see you already know where they can be found." Another gold coin.

"What makes you say that?"

Another gold coin "Come now, we're both professionals. I'm sure that you'd track any Hunter that comes into your city. After what happened at the Vytal Festival I'm sure you kept an especial eye out for those involved."

"This is valuable information… and I don't think I can trust you."

Another gold coin "Trust doesn't really come into it but I'm sure I can trust you to tell the next person who asks that we were looking for them."

The manager licked her lips. The gold already on the table represented a significant sum but she said nothing.

Another gold coin "In fact, I'd like to know about anyone else who asks after them." She doubled the gold on the table "I understand that this could be dangerous for you and your people." She doubled it again.

"Where would I be able to find you?"

Emielice doubled the coins again "You won't. I'll leave something that will allow you to let me know."

The manager smiled "The I believe we have a deal." She turned to one of the bodyguards "Get me a pen and paper." Then her smile faded and she went even whiter as Emielice whispered and a small eye appeared above her. "What is that?"

"The communication device I said that I'd leave. Tap it three times and it will draw my attention to you." Emielice grabbed the paper and stood up "Don't worry about it being obvious. Only you can see it." With that the warlocks turned and left.

When they were outside Fawn said "They're going to follow us. They will find out what we look like."

"If they're any good they will." She grinned at Fawn "When dealing with… somewhat grey… information networks it is always best if they can anticipate your needs."

The two mounted and leapt into the air.

Once in flight Emielice let everyone else know that they'd found them and the address where they were staying. "We'll see you there."

—

They watched until the warlocks mounted and flew off "What was that all about?" asked one of the bodyguards.

"Power play. Keep an eye on them, I want to know if they're actually friends of the Hunters."

"Do you think that's wise?"

"I think it wiser than not knowing who your adversary is." She huffed a laugh and looked at the eye hovering above her "Besides, she'd be disappointed if we didn't and we'd lose any other business she may send our way."

—

Qrow stood in the doorway looking at her, hand behind his back in that way of his that he had when reaching for his weapon. His eyes moved from her to Kashaahri and back. "Well, aren't you going to let us in Qrow?"

"Sapphire? What are you doing here and who's your friend?"

"This is Kashaahri and we're looking for Ozpin."

"Didn't you hear? He died at Beacon during the grimm attack."

"We heard." She looked at the young man behind Qrow "But we're still here."

The young man looked at her then turned to Qrow "He says to let them in." Turning back to her he said, "My name's Oscar."

Qrow stepped aside to let them in and then closed the door "So, what are you doing here?"

She looked around at the young people standing around the room "How much have you told them?"

Qrow glanced at Oscar then back to Sapphire "They know about the maidens."

"Ok then." She smiled at the young people "I'm Winter" turning back to Oscar "and one of the things I'm here to do is to give Ozpin his power back. We're hoping that once he has it back it will no longer go from person to person turning them into targets."

Oscar's eyes flashed and Ozpin asked, "How do you expect to be able to do that?"

"Allarae, who's not here yet, and I have worked out a spell that disassociates the power from me. We believe that if we let it go at that point it will go to another maiden or even return to me neither of which we want. So, we need you to reshape the power so that it returns to you." Movement outside the window caught everyone's attention as Fawn and Emielice landed on the balcony "If you'd be so kind and open the door to let Fawn and Emielice in." She sighed as she failed to get anyone's attention to the door and so teleported across the room and to open it.

"How'd you do that?" Asked the young girl in red. "And what were they flying?"

"Magic." She smiled as weighed up the young girl "You must be Ruby, leader of Team RWBY. What they're flying are called panthers but they're not real panthers. They're magical mounts that Allarae makes." She turned back to Ozpin "Kashaahri and her team are from a world called Azeroth where magic is common."

"They're what?" Ozpin looked shocked

"They're from another world and they're all magic users." Her face lit up in wonder "I have learned so much from Allarae about magic and where it comes from and its uses." She looked at Ozpin "I don't use your power any more. I use my own. I'm only carrying yours to give it back to you but when I do, I won't lose my capability to do magic."

"How is that possible?"

"Yours kick-started mine but mine is now more powerful. In fact, it seems that I've been limiting myself for the last couple of years by continuing to use your power and not using or understanding mine."

"No, I mean how is it possible that they're from another world. The gods only made this one."

"The gods of this world may have only made this one but that doesn't mean that there aren't other worlds in the Great Dark Beyond." Said Kashaahri "We come here from Azeroth and we were on our way to Draenor. And there is the Draenei home-world of Argus from which we fled from." Sadness was a palpable aura around the paladin "There are many worlds in the Great Dark Beyond even after the Legion's Burning Crusade."

Silence enveloped the room after Kashaahri spoke until a knock came at the door. Qrow opened it a sliver and then opened it wide "More friends of yours I assume." He suddenly spun round and pointed at Fawn "You're not an out-worlder so how come you're here?"

Fawn cocked her head at him "After being resurrected by Emielice I showed magical potential and so she's taken me under her wing."

"How were you… resurrected?" asked Ozpin

"It's a magical skill that most of us have." Said Emielice "It doesn't always work but as Fawn's ghost was hanging around it was decided to give it a go. Besides, we needed an interpreter."

"And the magic?"

Daalorisa stepped forward "At first we thought it was because magic had been used to resurrect her especially after she showed warlock talents and it was a warlock that resurrected her. Now I think that we need to consider that it maybe the awakening of the world that is causing more people to step beyond the use of Aura and Dust to full magic. I just spoke to a young faunus who had no issues with speaking to the Elements and thus shows signs of becoming a strong shaman."

"You're Allarae?" asked Ozpin

"No, I'm Daalorisa." She indicated Allarae "This is Allarae." Allarae stepped forward and lowered her cowl.

Ozpin looked Allarae and took a step back "You…"

"You recognise me?"

"No." He shook his head "There was a religious sect several centuries ago." He looked her up and down "The goddess that they worshipped looked like you. I must admit that I didn't believe them. I had met the gods and neither of them was a goddess and they looked human."

"We found the remains of their village and were hoping you could tell us something about it and the people. About how they ended." She tilted her head "And it's more accurate to say that I look like my goddess. She did, after all, shape my people to look more like her."

"There is much that needs to be discussed." Said Sapphire "But can we get this magic transfer done? Really, it itches."

Kashaahri nodded "This playing of Twenty Questions is the slow way to introduce ourselves to each other. I suggest we sit down and tell our stories and then tomorrow we can discuss how we can help each other."

"Agreed." Said Ozpin "So, what do you want me to do with this spell?"

The three of them sat down in a circle on the floor "Me and Sapphire will cast the spell that removes your power from her. The spell strips everything that is of her from it and leaves just the power. The power will hover between us at that point. What you will need to do then is to call it back to you, reshaping it as needed so that it stays with you. I believe you'll find doing so is almost instinctive as it is your power."

Ozpin nodded "Ready."

—


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine - The Hunt Begins**

Everyone was sitting down to breakfast when the heiress suddenly put down her spoon and said "How can you do it?"

"Do what?" asked Fawn

"Fight in those… gowns. They're more what I'd expect at one of my father's balls than I would in combat. Only two of you wear anything that could be considered 'combat ready'."

"The Azerothian combat style is very different to anything I've seen or been taught on Remnant." Said Sapphire "It isn't even close to having the same movement dependency." She shook her head "It took me by surprise in the first fight we had when we started this journey but it works. We all use ranged spells while Kashaahri tries to keep anything from hitting us."

"But wouldn't ranged spells miss when the target moves unexpectedly?" asked Ren

"The spells are targeted." Said Allarae "Once we get the spell off then it's coming for you no matter where you go or how fast. Even a mage's ability to teleport won't break the targeting."

"So, you don't move at all?"

"I think it best if we show you." Said Fawn "Got a place to practice?"

—

Most of the youngsters filed into the practice room and took up station near the door. Fawn stopped and summoned for a short while, a large stone chalice appearing before her. She reached in and pulled out a Healthstone "You can all grab one."

"What is it?" Asked Jaune as he held up the sickeningly green, glowing stone.

"It's a Healthstone. When you use it some of your health will recover instantly."

"I can help people heal but this is… actually, this is somewhat repulsive." He looked at the young faunus "Is all magic like this?"

"Not all magic." Said Allarae "There are different types which have different… capabilities. For yourself, I'd suggest talking to Kashaahri to learn about paladin healing."

"So, to the duel." Fawn smiled "Who wants to go first?"

—

Fawn and Ren faced each other across the room. Allarae counted down and then yelled go.

Ren immediately pulled his guns and started firing. Not knowing what to expect he approached the whispering warlock cautiously, firing every chance he got.

Fawn had started casting immediately while also commanding her imp to attack. The immolate landed half a second after the imp's Fireball.

Ren felt the pain of the fires and began to move faster. Surprised by the sudden appearance of the imp he was somewhat off his stride as his attention shifted to the second threat. Using Speed Dust, he rushed the small demon.

Fawn had continued casting and now another wave of flame moved toward Ren.

Ren saw it coming and dodged to the side, only to have his eyes widen in surprise as it followed and struck him. He came to a stop, guns coming up and reoriented on the demon, which had continued firing Fireballs at him, and rushed the lesser threat again.

Then the fear landed and with all thought of attacking the fearsome monster in front of him vanishing, he turned and ran. Another Fireball landed almost simultaneously with Fawn's Conflagrate, breaking the Fear. With the fear broken Ren came back to his senses and, staggering, reoriented upon the faunus.

"STOP!" yelled Allarae. She looked at the exhausted Ren "Use your Healthstone young Ren."

He used it, surprise showing on his face as power flowed back into him, while looking to the faunus "Did I even hurt you?"

"Oh, yes. Quite a bit of damage, actually. Those guns of yours quite pack quite a wallop."

"I was surprised when the… demon?… appeared and started throwing fire at me. Not sure if I handled that well."

"It is better to deal with the warlock." Said Allarae "Once the warlock is gone so is the demon but until then you have two points of damage coming at you. Many people, especially those not used to fighting warlocks, get that wrong."

"And if you had dealt with my demon, I could have used Fear to stop you from attacking me and summoned another one."

"And you say that there are different types of magic?" asked Weiss

"Yes." Said Allarae

"And they can all keep people at a distance like that?"

"In one way or another, yes."

They started walking back to the main common room. Allarae and Weiss hanging back, talking about magic. As they passed a door there was a shout from the other side of it. Weiss stopped, listened intently and then barged through the door.

—

The team leaders, Kashaahri and Sapphire, Ozpin and Qrow, Ruby and Yang sat down around the table. Secluded from the others as they discussed what was to happen next. Which way would each group would go.

Ozpin said "Our plan was to go to Atlas from here, find the Winter Maiden and get the Relic from under the Academy there to keep it from Salem." He looked to Kashaahri "But your arrival here and that magic seems to have arisen in the world makes me question that path."

"You say these Relics of Knowledge, Choice, Creation and Destruction, have immense power. What can they do?" asked Kashaahri

"The Relic of Knowledge can answer any question but only three every hundred years." He paused "The others are similar in that they have the power of their name with similar restrictions placed upon their use."

"And with their power combined you will be able to stop this Salem?"

"She is very old, older than I am in fact, and such experience is a power all itself."

"Would you be able to defeat Salem if all your power was returned to you?" Asked Sapphire

"That's… a possibility." Ozpin looked troubled "It would certainly make it easier."

"Then I suggest we find the remaining Maidens and persuade them to return your power to you." Said Kashaahri "In fact, it should be done just to stop this centuries old murder spree that's been going on."

"One of the Maidens is Cinder Fall" Said Qrow "And she's not going to give up power without a fight. In fact, she's one of the ones that has killed for that power."

"We have more than one way to grab that power." Said Sapphire "The spell that we used to remove the power from me could be used to remove it from another in a way similar to what Cinder tried with Amber." Her gaze hardened "Or we could even do it the old-fashioned way and simply kill her. There are enough of us that it's likely that the power will simply come to one of us."

"For a Maiden you're sounding remarkably… vengeful."

"I've spent years hiding who I am, Qrow, trying to make sure that nobody did to me what happened to Amber." She closed her eyes, trying to pull her anger back "I don't think we're going to have a lot of choice with her anyway. It sounds like she's been going around killing people for some time and has no compunction about continuing to do so. After we draw the power out of her, she'll still be a powerful mage and we have no capability of locking her up."

"I take it" said Kashaahri heading off the present line of discussion "that with the power of Winter returned to you there won't be any issues in Atlas in retrieving the Relic there?"

"There won't be any trouble opening the room that it's in, no." Said Ozpin.

"And they don't have the Relic from Vale?" asked Ruby

"I made the Relic location there even harder to find. It requires not only the power of Fall but my own power." Ozpin smiled "I believe that the Fall Relic will stay right where it is until I choose to go pick it up."

"So that just leaves us with the Summer Maiden for accessing the Relic in Vacuo." Sapphire looked at Qrow "Do you know where she is?"

"Besides Vacuo? No." Qrow grimaced "She managed to disappear as thoroughly as you did. She lets us know that she's alive every now and then but that's it."

"Well, we can hope that Salem hasn't found her as well then." Said Ozpin

"But we also need to find the Spring Maiden and that's going to mean talking to my sister who can also be hard to find if she's moving the Branwen tribe." Qrow looked at Yang "What did happen there?" 

"As I said, when I got there Vernal was dead and both my mother and Cinder were gone. I picked up the Relic and returned to you." There was a deep, meaningful silence that greeted this statement.

"Well, you obviously didn't get the Spring Maiden's powers so they've either gone on to Cinder, my sister or someone else. We have to check to make sure that my sister doesn't have them."

"What is this tribe?" asked Ruby

"They're a nomadic bunch of no hopers that mostly keep to themselves." Said Qrow "It's the fact that they move around so much that makes them so hard to find."

"You say that they mostly keep to themselves?" asked Sapphire

"Mostly." Qrow took a swig from his hit flask "Other times they raid out of the way towns and villages to take what they want. They have this… philosophy… that only the strong survive."

"That's not true… That's…" exclaimed Yang. Everybody looked at her in surprise and then turned abruptly as the door opened behind them.

"You were there. You heard what she said, why her and your uncle joined Beacon." Said Weiss. She looked around the people in the room "She said that Hunters were considered the only ones strong enough to stop their raids and so they joined Beacon to become better raiders."

Ozpin moved forward and put his hand upon Yang's shoulder "I think it's time you told us what really happened in the vault."

Yang looked at him, wiped her arm across her eyes and said quietly "When I got there Vernal was dead. Cinder wasn't there and I saw mother opening the door to the vault. I stopped her, asked her what happened to the Spring Maiden. She didn't answer but that was enough." She drew a deep breath "It was written all over her face. She had killed the Spring Maiden for the power. I told her that if she had the Relic Salem would stop at nothing to take it from her." With tears streaking down her face "She fled and I grabbed the Relic." The room was silent.

"A bandit tribe in southern Anima?" asked Kashaahri, breaking the silence

"Yes, why?" asked Qrow

"Because, after the destruction of Shione and the attack upon Shadowed Dawn, the towns and villages of Anima have decided that they're aren't putting up with the raids anymore." She looked at Ozpin "We have a very limited time to find them first."

"But you could stop them, make them understand…"

"No, we couldn't." Said Kashaahri "We became adventurers to protect villages and towns from people like the Branwen tribe."

Ozpin looked up, his own gaze hardening "Forgiveness is its own strength."

"I am a paladin of the Light. Forgiveness is a strong part of my faith and that of my team." Kashaahri looked at him, her eyes hard "But so is righteousness and justice."

—

The room was quiet for a time as everyone listened to their own council. Then Ozpin spoke "I think it best if your group goes and finds the Maidens and brings them back to me so that their power… my power… can be returned to me. Even if we don't defeat Salem in this way at least other women will no longer be hunted for that power and we will no longer have to deal with those like Cinder. Mankind has enough strife between them without that… temptation… as well."

"But what about… mother… will she…" Yang trailed off

"We will speak with the councils about it." Said Kashaahri "They may be willing to just take them as prisoners but, as one councillor at Shadowed Dawn put it, they don't have a lot of resources to lock people up and need to be able to trust those next to them. It is unlikely that they'll be willing to let a tribe that has been attacking them for decades continue. They are simply too much of a threat."

"And it's unlikely that either the Branwen tribe or my sister are going to listen to reason." Said Qrow "I was glad to be out of there and making a positive difference in the world. Raven, she ran back to that life in fear of Salem."

"She's scared." Said Yang "She doesn't believe that there's any way to defeat Salem."

"And when we went up against one of the Old Gods there were people saying we couldn't defeat them either." Said Kashaahri

"What are these 'Old Gods'?" Asked Ruby

"Malevolent beings sent out by the Void Lords to corrupt and destroy all life. They latched on to the world soul of Azeroth and… began to feed. The Titans stepped in and stopped that, imprisoning them."

"If they were imprisoned then why…"

"One managed to corrupt one of the Keepers after which he corrupted or killed the others. We had to fight our way through many of them before we confronted Yogg-Saron himself."

"Interesting but we should get back to the planning." Said Ozpin

"Aye. As I understand it you'll be going to Atlas to pick up the Relic there. We should pick a place to meet."

"If you find my sister, and get her to cooperate," said Qrow "She can make a portal to me and I'll be with Oz and the rest of them."

"And if we don't?"

"We'll be travelling through the city of Argus on the Northern tip of Anima to get to Atlas but it's most likely that we would return through Vale." Said Ozpin "From there we'd be moving on to Vacuo to pick up the Summer Relic. If we don't see you before then it would probably be best if we met in Vale."

—

The team stepped out of the portal room in Shadowed Dawn and into chaos. Several dozen guard in the different uniforms were either milling about or practising in the square by the gate. A ripple passed out across the crowd as the portal guards saluted and people realised that someone important had arrived. Janus, alerted by the quiet around him, turned to the portal house and walked towards them.

"Our intrepid adventurers return." He said, "Any luck with your mission?"

"Some." Said Kashaahri "And we're going to need to speak to you, the council and probably representatives of the other towns here. How's your own search going?"

"Successful as well. We found the bandit tribe by the simple expedient of letting the two we had escape with the help of our conspiracy nut and making sure that we had a tail on them. The bandits killed him the first night." He grimaced "I shouldn't be upset as he did betray the town but he still got killed doing what I set him up to do."

"It was his choice to make and he made it once he had the opportunity." She paused "It is about the bandits that we need to talk."

"Is it serious?"

"Yes. The bandit leader is one of the Maidens and we need her alive."

Janus sucked in a sharp breath "That is a concern." He stopped in thought "I'll get the necessary people together while you head on over to the inn. The inn's been turned into a temporary HQ during the campaign as the only place large enough for combined deliberations. It's closed to the public but the guards have orders to let you in."

—

The room settled down as Janus took the podium "Thank you all for coming. We've recently been apprised of new information regarding the bandits. It's serious for two reasons. The first is that it's going to be harder than expected due to the unexpected strength of their leader." He paused "The second is that we need to keep the leader alive."

There was a sharp silence in the room after that announcement before a guard with chevrons on their shoulder stood up "That's really not what we want to hear, Janus. From what we understand this tribe has been preying upon us for decades. We're not really in a forgiving mood about it." He looked around the room to get a feel for his support before he went on "What makes this leader of theirs so special?"

Janus drew a breath to speak but Kashaahri interrupted "Because she's one of the Maidens and she's strong enough to kill most of the people in here by herself."

"Are you going to have us believing fairy tales now, _faunus_?" the guard spat

"It's not fairy tale and, if you'd bothered listening to the people of the town, you'd know that I'm no faunus. Not that my race would change the facts." She tilted her head to one side "And the fact is that the bandit leader can use magic. You use Dust do you not?"

"Yes, but what's that got to do with magic?"

"Use of Dust is use of magic. A limited form of magic but still magic." The guard started to interrupt but Kashaahri continued over him "Dust is a source of magical power so the only real difference between you and the bandit leader is that she has a much more powerful source and can do more with it."

Emielice said "That magic makes her far stronger than anyone or anything that you've ever fought before. That she could, quite simply, wipe the floor with your face without breaking a sweat. We want her alive but the only way that you're going to be able to take out the tribe is with our help as we're the only ones who will be able to stand up to her."

The room was quiet until Sapphire said, "Let me tell you about the maidens." All attention shifted to her "The Maidens have been around for thousands of years. Four women given power by a wizard to help out people as they travelled. When they die the power that they have passes on to another young maiden." She paused to let that sink in "In the beginning it was thought that the power simply went to a random person but over time it was realised that the power went to the person foremost in the dying Maiden's mind. Once that was realised people began hunting, and killing, the Maidens for that power. After all, your killer is likely to be the person foremost in your mind as you die." She paused again, her gaze taking in the whole room "When that happened the Wizard, along with a select group of others, began protecting the Maidens. They did this by making them disappear. By making a well-known truth become legend and then myth." She looked at the first guard "Generally speaking, this group has been quite successful as we now stand here discussing the Maidens mere existence despite the fact that they've always been there."

"And you know this because?" asked another of the group.

"Because I used to be one of those Maidens. I spent years hiding that from people while I helped them as best as I could using the powers that I had."

"Used to be? I thought you said that the power only passed on death."

"When I met our off-world friends here I began learning more about magic than I ever had before. With that knowledge we were able to find a way to pass it back to the Wizard." She snapped her fingers and an Ice Barrier formed around her "Now I'm just a mage with far more power than any Maiden."

The guard looked at her and then back to Janus "Ok then, what do we do Janus?"

Janus looked at him and then nodded to Kashaahri "Ahri, you have a plan I believe?"

"Yes, thank you Janus, I do." She looked around the room, making sure she had everyone's attention "Just a small change from your original plan. You still surround the bandits as planned but allow us to go in first. We'll try to persuade the leader to come with us peacefully and afterwards you can do whatever you like with the rest of them."

The guard with the chevrons stood up again "And what happens if this leader doesn't go peacefully?"

"Then I'm sure that you'll be close enough to hear the fighting and will be able to step in and help clean up."

"You sound very confident."

"We've fought bandits like them before. They like to think that they're tough, that they can take everyone that they meet but they're really just bullies who pick on those weaker than them." She smiled, her glowing eyes diamond hard "I think that they're about to find out that they're not the biggest fish in the pond."

The guard returned the smile.

—

The team walked towards the gate in the hastily erected palisade that enclosed the camp. They walked in openly, not trying to hide that they were coming from those upon the walls. When they got close enough to shout at each other one of the people on the wall shouted, "Stop there or die." The team came to a stop. "What do you want?"

"We need to speak with Raven Branwen, leader of this group." Said Kashaahri

"She's not taking… guests… at the moment."

"Tell her that we need to talk to her about the Spring Maiden." Kashaahri, noticing movement behind the wall, smiled up at the person speaking "We'll wait."

"And who are you to demand an audience with our leader?"

"I'm sure that your… intelligence… operatives have already informed your leader of that."

The person glared down at them but there wasn't much that they could say. Not long after the gate opened and one of the ex-deputies opened the gate. "You and one other can come in but leave your weapons here."

"Really?" Smiled Kashaahri "We heard that she let in all four of Cinder Fall's group. Surely, she doesn't mean to level such an insult to us? After all, we're on the side of the Light while Cinder… isn't."

"Ok then." He glared at her "Two others but I get to say who and you still leave your weapons here." He couldn't, quite, hide his smirk as he said that latter.

Kashaahri smiled back at him "Acceptable. Who do you pick?"

He made a show of choosing but it was obvious that it had been decided beforehand when he chose Sapphire and Fawn from the group. He, and Raven on his advice, obviously thinking that the two Remnants would be weaker.

Kashaahri nodded, drew her sword and slammed it point first into the ground then leaned her shield on it. Fawn stepped forward and, waving one hand in a complicated gesture, left her staff hanging upright just above the ground. Sapphire, after observing Fawn, did similar but left a glowing arcane symbol upon the ground and the staff floating horizontal above it at waste height. All three then stepped forward.

The ex-deputy stepped back, swallowed, and asked "And the other's weapons?"

"They're not coming in."

He tried to glare at Kashaahri but there was no give in the calm eyes looking back. He swallowed again and nodded "Ok then, follow me." And led them through the gate.

—

As they came closer to the largest tent in the compound Raven, wearing her Grimm Mask, stepped out of it. She was followed by another woman who was obviously acting as some sort of body guard.

"Ooooh, it looks like we're doing scary today." Fawn said as she reached up and turned her cowl visible. The dark blond guy with the missing tooth 'escorting' her turned to sneer but stumbled when he got a look at the blood red eyes in the dark cowl.

Sapphire laughed and said, "You do scary very well." As her own hood became visible, hiding her features in darkness and her eyes becoming the deep purple of the arcane.

Fawn grinned and bowed slightly to Sapphire "It is nice to be appreciated by my compatriots."

Raven glanced at the two then turned to look at Kashaahri "You're not going to do scary?"

Kashaahri shrugged "I find that my helmet really doesn't go with my horns and" she lifted her long, platinum blond locks "helmet hair is such a pain to deal with."

The two groups stared at each other, the quiet tense possibilities. Then Raven sighed, removed her mask and, her voice contemptuous "What do the Saviours of Shadowed Dawn want? Something tells me that this isn't exactly a _friendly_ meeting. Especially after the death of four of my tribe."

"We're here to talk to you about the Spring Maiden whom we need to come with us."

"And what if I'm not willing to hand her over?"

"Then we'll simply have to take her." Said Fawn "And, yes, we do know that 'her' means _you_."

"We spoke to your daughter." Said Sapphire, her voice hard "We know that you murdered the previous Maiden for the power that you now wield."

"I did her a mercy. She was a weak, terrified little girl. Scarred of what Ozpin had told her, demanded of her. Terrified that Salem would find her and kill her."

"So, you murdered her instead? Doesn't seem that she won out either way."

"But you have your philosophy, don't you?" asked Kashaahri "That only the strong survive?"

"Only the strong do survive."

"Really? Then why is it that you have to steal the strength of others to survive?" Kashaahri's voice was cold, scathing "Because that's what you do, when you go on your raids to take that which others have built up. Steal their strength because you and your tribe are truly weak."

"Your philosophy is nothing more than an excuse to steal, rape and murder." Said Sapphire

But Raven wasn't paying attention to either of them anymore. She was staring at Fawn, her eyes wide in disbelief, unconsciously stepping back as untold power gathered around the faunus, her own gaze held by the blood red gaze, her ears pierced by the harsh syllables of demonic as the warlock summoned forth her felguard.

"If you were strong." Said Fawn "You wouldn't be standing there quaking in your boots."

Drawing her sword and her own power Raven yelled "Kill them. Kill them all." She rushed forward, intent on decapitating the warlock but the felguard's axe came up and easily deflected the sword from its master.

The woman next to her tried to rush Sapphire but got caught in the Sapphire's Frost Nova followed by Kashaahri's mailed fist striking her face, lifting her from the ground and throwing her back. She landed hard with her neck at an unnatural angle.

Kashaahri spun, grabbed Raven by the back of her neck and pulled her back. Grabbing Raven's sword arm she squeezed until Raven dropped the sword. "Unfortunately, we really do need you alive." And then head-butted the bandit leader so that she dropped to the ground unconscious. Bending over she picked up the long, red sword, inspecting it "Hmmm, not bad." She looked up, taking in the situation, the sounds of fighting coming from the gate and that the nearby bandits hadn't had time to react yet, still shocked at how fast their leader had gone down. She nodded to herself and sent a magical communication _"Now, Janus."_

She thrust out with the sword and the ex-deputy barely had time to realise that he was dead, next to her the toothless blonde's knife met with the felguard's axe and then Fawn's Immolate enveloped him. Turning to Sapphire she pointed at Raven "Keep an eye on her. We don't want her escaping or being accidentally killed." Then she stepped forward to meet the oncoming bandits.

Sapphire nodded as she finished casting Blizzard. All the bandits would now need to cross through the bone chilling, magical fall of ice. Fawn, finishing off the blond with a Conflagrate added her own Rain of Fire to the same area as Sapphire's Blizzard. Then the two magic users truly joined the battle and began picking out individual targets for their spells, secure in the knowledge that Ahri stood as a bulwark between them and everything else.

Out on the fringes of the camp the sounds of battle redoubled as the combined militia of the townships joined in.

—

Emielice had been watching the exchange through her Eye of Kilrogg. "You know, I actually thought that Kashaahri would try to resolve this without a fight."

Daalorisa shrugged "These people have been killing and stealing for decades. They weren't going to stop now even if we asked nicely as they're too set in their ways. Kashaahri knew that going in and the townsfolk would not have a sense of justice being done either if we'd simply let them off."

"And that's why they're here." Said Elanna "We could have wiped these people out ourselves but its better for them if they at least take a hand in the dealing of their own justice."

"Elune is a goddess of peace but even She carries swords for when they're necessary." She picked up her staff, her eyes hardening "Time to deal justice in the only language these bandits understand."

—

Raven came to slowly, eyes blurry and her head aching. She looked up but didn't recognise the ceiling above her. Looking to the side she saw bars. Well, she'd been in a cell before and probably would be again. She reached for her power but a flashing pain went through her head instead causing her to grab her head in both hands as she sat up.

"Don't bother. The cell has been warded against magic."

She turned to the speaker recognising the one called Sapphire "How?" she slurred.

"A rather simple spell actually. Unfortunately, it's not permanent and so it needs either me or Allarae here."

"You're a Maiden?"

"Was a Maiden. Gave the power back to the Wizard a few weeks ago."

"Then how…?"

"How do I still have power?"

"Yes."

"Having the Maiden's power kick-started my own magical capability but it required learning about magic from the Azerothians to realise that. We'll be taking you to Ozpin to take that power from you as well." She paused "You haven't asked about your tribe."

"I assume the reason why I'm here is because they failed me, that they weren't strong enough."

Sapphire shook her head in disbelief "That was always going to happen with the philosophy that you followed. There is always someone stronger even if they have to band together to do it as the townspeople did. The failure was yours in that you failed to bring your tribe into peaceful co-existence with everyone else." Sapphire looked at Raven, her contempt for the fallen leader written across her face "If you'd been a good leader, your tribe would still exist and so would Shione."

Raven glared at her and then slumped "So, what happens now?"

"There's three options." Said Kashaahri as she came through the door "First, you cooperate, take us to your brother and we take the Wizard's power out of you. You survive but will be placed under Ozpin's care. Secondly you don't cooperate but the rest remains the same except that the journey takes longer. Thirdly we kill you and go find the new maiden."

"You'll note that the townships do prefer the latter course because of the untold damage that you've done to the townships over the years." Said Catalina as she came to stand next to Ahri "The only reason why you're alive now is because of the goodwill that the Azerothians have and the need to get the power you hold back to this wizard quickly."

Raven glared at her and then looked back to Kashaahri "You do know that Salem cannot be defeated right? That she can't be killed?"

"We're not here to defeat Salem. We're here to protect the world."

Raven's eyes widened "But… they were only dreams. They meant nothing…"

"Dreams that, as far as we can make out, every single person who could directly use magic had." Kashaahri paused "Well, all the ones we've spoken to so far but I doubt if we're going to have such a conversation with Cinder."

"If she's still alive."

"If?"

"I beat her pretty good and then covered her in ice as she fell into the darkness. I don't know how far she fell or what she fell into. It should have been enough to kill her."

"I see. Well, if she shows up then we'll deal with her."

"You make that sound so easy."

"Easier than capturing somebody."

That brought a surprised look from Raven "For someone 'of the Light', as you say, you seem rather blasé about killing people."

"Me and my people have spent most of my life running from those that would do us harm. We have stopped running." Her eyes hardened as she spoke "Now we deal with them in the best way possible. If those we are dealing with can see reason then they live. If not, they die."

"And what about my people, my tribe? You didn't try to reason with us."

"Your tribe had already shown by their actions that they were not willing to listen to reason. Their attacks upon Shione and then Shadowed Dawn. How many other towns and villages has your tribe attacked throughout the years without reason?" She paused "And then there's the matter of justice for those you've murdered and the townsfolk still alive that needed both closure and knowing that a threat had been removed."

"Only the strong survive and you showed that we weren't strong enough."

"No. It's not the strong who survive." Said Catalina "It's the fittest and by refusing to fit, refusing to live peacefully with others, you brought about your own destruction."

"You could have used your strength to help others, to defend them from the grimm." Said Sapphire "Instead, you used it to attack others. To steal and kill and then used your philosophy to blame your victims."

"Are you willing to fit, to live peacefully with others?" Kashaahri looked questioningly at her "Are you willing to use your strength to become the protector you always should have been?"

"Do I have a choice?"

"Of course, you do." Said Catalina "You can choose to be strung up right now." There was no give in either her voice or her eyes.

Raven looked at her and then the others, taking in their determination. She sighed, seeming to crumble "I'll cooperate."

—

Qrow spun, drawing his and extending weapon as the portal opened next to him. The others, picking up on his movement and the sound of his weapon extending, drew their own weapons. They relaxed a moment later when Fawn stepped through the portal followed by the others and Raven.

The two groups stood, looking at each other for a few seconds before Kashaahri nodded to the burning buildings behind them "What happened?"

—


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter Ten - Cinder's Fall**

"What happened?" Asked Ruby "Well, the train was attacked by grimm and the half we were on derailed and dropped us in the snow. We found out what Ozpin's been hiding from us which has thrown Ozpin into a funk and then we discovered a bunch of grimm that attack humans by making them totally apathetic."

"That last is what the burning buildings are about. Roasted grimm." Yang said as she looked at Raven "Mother."

"Daughter." Raven turned to Qrow "Brother."

"Tell us more, tell us everything but…" Kashaahri looked around her "Should we set up camp or just keep moving?"

"It's a long way to Argus." Said Qrow "I suggest we keep moving until dark."

Kashaahri nodded and called forth her Charger and the rest of the team called forth their own mounts with Allarae calling forth her Chopper and Raven was… persuaded… to get into its side-car. They started moving down the road "What happened on the train? We thought you would still be travelling with Team JNR."

"The train was attacked by grimm. We believe it was because the Relic attracts them." Said Ruby "We sent the passengers forward with JNR to protect them then disconnected the last carriages. Things were going OK until the last grimm, a huge Griffin, managed to get a fireball off which destroyed the track in front of us and derailing the carriages we were on."

"My curse of a Semblance stranding us in the wild." Said Qrow.

"O…k, what was Ozpin hiding?"

"He was hiding that Salem can't be killed." Said Ruby

"Told you, brother, and you wouldn't believe me." Said Raven

"Yes, you told me." Qrow took a swig from hit-flask "Now let us tell what else we've learned."

"She's been made immortal as a punishment from the gods 'for as long as this world turns.'" Continued Ruby, glaring at Raven and her uncle. "Salem was punished for trying to deceive the gods into resurrecting her lover, Ozpin."

"Salem, after immortality was thrust upon her, realised that the gods didn't know everything and led the people in a revolt against them." Said Blake "When confronted with that revolution the gods eliminated mankind except Salem and then left."

"For an untold time, only Salem and the grimm walked the world. Salem, alone and in despair, threw herself into the Pools of Annihilation hoping that they would destroy her as the Fountain of Life and Creation had given her immortality." Said Weiss

Yang said "They didn't. They changed her into an immortal being of destruction instead."

"After a time." Said Ruby "Humans arose again with faunus next to them and when they did the God of Light went to Ozpin in the after-life and asked if he would return to guide the new humanity to peace. At first Ozpin refused, saying that he only wanted to be with Salem in the after-life, but the God of Light told him that he would not find Salem there and that she walked the world as an immortal but that she was not the woman he once knew. Hearing that Ozpin agreed and he's been reincarnating ever since."

"And when the God of Light did that, he also told Ozpin of the four Relics of Destruction, Knowledge, Choice and Creation. As you know we have the Relic of Knowledge which is where we found out this from. Her name's Jinn." Said Blake "And that if all four Relics come together the gods will appear and judge mankind. If we're not living peacefully with each other then the gods will destroy the world and move on."

"And that's about it." Said Ruby "Then a storm blew in and we had to seek shelter." She looked around her "I think here is a good place to camp for the night." The others nodded in agreement and started setting up camp.

"And there, too, my Semblance turned against us."

"It was not you're Semblance uncle." Said Ruby

"What else would it be that would lead us right to a nest of grimm? This Semblance is a curse."

"A curse?" asked Elanna "I don't think you know the meaning."

"I have a Semblance that brings bad luck to those around me." Said Qrow "Be they friend or foe and it does it randomly. Seems like a good meaning of a curse to me."

"How does it work?

"I don't know, It's _random._ " He took a swig from his flask. "That's what _random_ means."

"It's your power, your ability." She threw a meaningful look at him "That means that it's triggering from you and is probably related to what's happening to you. You need to learn to control that, to direct it."

"You don't think that I haven't tried?"

"I'm sure that you have but you need to keep trying until you can."

"And what do you know about it?"

"Because if me and my people hadn't learned to control our curse, we would now be dead. Most likely by our own hands." She looked over to Kashaahri who gave her a slight nod "Let me tell you about my people's curse." As she spoke the twilight seemed to become deeper, the forest quieter and darkness itself seemed to encase the priest. It only lasted a few moments but when it finished instead of a human there was a two-metre-tall humanoid wolf with dark fur standing there.

Qrow reacted almost instantly, dropping his hit flask and drawing his weapon. Team RWBY followed his example, Oscar sprang up from where he was sitting but didn't draw his weapon. Raven paused for a bit, shrugged, and then finished scooping up her bowl of broth.

The silence between the group lengthened before Kashaahri said "She's still the same women as before." And grabbed her own bowl of broth.

With the silence broken and a sense of normality restored by the simple action weapons were replaced and talking started up again.

"You're a WEREWOLF." Exclaimed RUBY

"That's one way to put it." Said Elanna "We call ourselves 'Worgen'."

"This is your curse?" asked Qrow

"Yes. With the help from the priestesses of Elune and druids from Teldrassil we learned to tame it, to control it. It's different from yours as it was imposed upon us but we had to accept it as part of us to learn that control."

"My Semblance is a part of me, I accept that." He snorted "I just wish it wasn't."

"But you don't accept it. You reject it as your last words tell us and that rejection is causing imbalance in you and preventing control of your ability. You need to accept your ability and re-learn the balance that you need."

"A Ritual of Balance, Sister?" asked Allarae

"Yes."

"And what will that achieve?" Qrow raised his hit-flask but a dark, clawed, hand ripped it from his and crushed it.

"You won't need this crutch for starters." She returned to human form as she dropped the twisted metal to the ground "Accept yourself and take control of yourself again."

"Do it uncle." Said Ruby. She turned to Elanna "Anything I," she felt Yang step next to her "we, can do to help?"

"Be there when he comes out of it. He'll need you then." She turned to Qrow "If you're willing of course."

"What does it entail?"

"Drinking water blessed by the Light of Elune during a ritual. This will force you to face your regrets, your fears and your hopes."

"I could do with a bit of balance as well." Said Oscar

"Maybe so, young man, but I don't believe this particular ritual will help. It's about helping someone accept all that they are whereas, you're actually two people." Said Elanna she turned back to Qrow "Well?"

"I…"

"Do it Uncle. They really do seem to know more about magic than Ozpin does despite his long life." Said Yang

"Fine." He pulled another hit-flask out of his pocket and took a swig "Just don't expect me to do it sober."

—

The moon rode high in the night before preparations for the ritual were completed. Now Remnants and Azerothians stood aside while the two participants stood in a small clearing. The low rumble of Elanna's prayer reached them as she gestured over a silver chalice filled with water. The light over the two of them seemed to strengthen slightly and then flashed brilliantly, bright enough that many of the onlookers had to look away, as she raised the chalice before dimming again but the shaft of silver light on the two was brighter than the surrounding moonlight. The priest offered the chalice to Qrow "Drink."

He took the vessel, looked in it and then threw his head back, drank and then handed it back "Now what?" Then he collapsed and Elanna's prayer became deeper, commanding.

Ruby looked as though she wanted to run to him "Is he…?"

"He's fine." Said Fawn "His life is strong."

"How do you know?"

"We can… see it."

Ruby blinked at her "What if it doesn't work?"

"Then he'll be the same irascible curmudgeon that he always has been." Said Allarae "The ritual doesn't change him but shows him who he is and forces him to accept that."

They looked back to where the ritual was being performed as Elanna's voice became even more commanding and the light from the clearing seemed to strobe in time to the cadence of her prayer. From Qrow's prone body arose a bird form made of light and tied to him by strands of magic. As each strand was cut the bird form rose higher until the last was cut and it made a beeline for Oscar. When it got to him it dove straight into him, staggering him and causing his eyes to momentarily shimmer yellow.

"Are you alright?" asked Sapphire

"Yes, I… I'm fine. That almost… woke… Him up though."

"What happened? Why did that…" asked Ruby

"Did he have some of Ozpin's magic?" asked Allarae

"Yes. A small amount that allowed him to turn into a crow."

"Ah. The ritual forces him to accept that which is part of him but he's obviously rejected that which is not."

"Does that mean that he won't be able to become a bird anymore?" as Yang

"Couldn't say. It's possible that it could go that way but it's also possible that he no longer needs it. That once he has control over his own magic, he'll be able to do it without Ozpin's."

"But he doesn't have magic."

"But what else could your Semblance be?" Yang drew sharp breath as Allarae continued "It's one of the conclusions that we've come to in our time here. Your people have magic but they're not connecting to a powerful source and are using Dust instead."

Time passed with some of the group going to sleep to the steady murmur of Elanna's prayer and the moonlight that filled the clearing.

—

Emielice woke with a start. Something was… Ah, the Eye she'd left with the Spiders. She quickly connected to the remote and found herself looking over the shoulder of the manager of the Spiders where two women were fighting.

The manager glanced at the eye then back to the women fighting "The tall one is called Cinder" she whispered "and she was looking for the same group that you were looking for. The small one, called Neo, was looking for the tall one and the group. I don't believe either wish them well." She glanced at the eye again "If you want to talk to them then I suggest you get here quickly." Looking back to the two women fighting she called "Ladies, I do believe that its time that you took this outside."

Emielice spoke only one word to her "Coming." Then she went to Allarae and Kashaahri "We need to go to Mistral." Kashaahri raised an eyebrow in question "The Spiders have found Cinder Fall and one other."

Kashaahri nodded "Us three I think." She turned to Fawn "We'll message when we're ready to come back."

Emielice was now whispering in Demonic, making a pathway through the Twisting Nether to the Eye. When ready she reached out to both Allarae and Kashaahri who completed the circle as their own hands joined. With the circle closed Emielice's power surged, grabbed them and transported them to the Spider's lair.

Kashaahri quickly drew her sword and shield, turned to the manager and asked "Where?"

"Outside." She said as the sounds of fighting came through the door.

Kashaahri nodded and stepped quickly towards the door, Allarae on her heels. Behind them Emielice turned towards the manager and held out a large sack of gold. The manager took it, weighed it in her hands and then said "Rumours are that you're from another world."

"The rumours are correct." Then Emielice started a summoning and shortly her own felguard stood there.

The manager tried to shift back in her chair as the demon came forth "What is that?"

"That is a demon." Hearing the cessation of noise from outside "Now I have to go." But as she got to the door, she bid the felguard to stay.

—

Emielice stepped out of the door in to a tableau of silence. Cinder was elevated in a swirl of magic winds and a smaller woman was standing in the middle of the street closer to the lair. Both had now turned to the new comers.

" _What's happening?"_ she asked

" _This one"_ Kashaahri said as she indicated Cinder _"had just been suggesting how they should team up to murder Ruby. I believe that she's lifted herself up in some sort of power display to help persuade the other."_

" _Ah, mind if I take it from here?"_

" _Go ahead."_

Emielice nodded to her and then turned to Cinder and Neo "Competent criminals consider fighting in the streets to be… bad form. It draws attention to you, identifies you as criminals and ensures that you're being watched by those that may not have your wellbeing in mind. No other competent criminal would deal with you after such a display." She looked Cinder up and down, scorn in her eyes and tone "And then you actually went and discussed your plans to murder someone in public where anybody could listen? Just how incompetent can you get?"

"And who are you, little girl, to ask your betters such things?"

"Betters?" Emielice looked around her at the grime covered streets "All those that I've met that may be 'better' than me lived in castles and treated others with respect. Archmages with their city in the sky, kings and queens with more power than you've ever dared dream of." She shook her head "No, you're just another evil flunky with your hands out for any power that your mistress deigns to give you with no understanding of her true motive."

"And who we are." said Allarae as she raised her hand "Are friends of the girl you were planning on murdering." She snapped her fingers and Silence ended Cinder's spell of flight, crashing her to the ground "And we're not impressed by such pathetic displays of power."

"And we're here." Said Kashaahri "To take back the power that you stole and return it to its true owner." She turned to Neo "You can leave. We have no truck with you but understand that if you go after Ruby our next meeting will not be quite so… pleasant."

As she was speaking Cinder had picked herself up, trying her magic until it flared up again. Now she looked towards Neo, her eye flaring, "If you want vengeance…?"

Neo nodded slightly and then, leaving an image behind her, teleported behind Kashaahri and instantly slammed her umbrella into the horned woman's back. She withdrew her umbrella, ready to riposte any attack but, with none coming, attacked again only to be surprised as Kashaahri suddenly spun, raised her shield and blocked her attack. Seeing the sword following she left another image behind herself and teleported behind Cinder as the image shattered.

Kashaahri spun to face the two women, laying down a Consecrate "The hard way then." She said to Neo "You could have left here alive."

Cinder scoffed "You haven't even begun to see the limits of my power, what a Maiden with the full teaching of my Mistress can do." And launched a fiery spear at Allarae only to be surprised to see Allarae's Ice Barrier suddenly appear and stop it cold.

"You're not the only one who can do magic here." Allarae then turned to Kashaahri _"Keep her here and alive until I finish the chant. I'll let you know when."_

" _We only need one of them alive right?"_ asked Emielice

" _Only the Maiden."_ Said Allarae then she started her chant.

" _Right then."_ She clicked her fingers and her felguard stepped through the door. Seeing the stunned looks on the faces of the two Remnants she said "That is a demon." Then, pointing at Neo "Kill."

The demon Charged, covering the distance between it and Neo in an eye blink, its huge axe swinging in towards the small woman. Neo managed to get her umbrella up as a shield in time but the force of the impact threw her back several metres, stunning her. Collapsing her umbrella, she attacked the demon getting a good, solid hit on it but it didn't even slow down. She managed to deflect the incoming axe and land a good blow with her foot. That staggered the demon but not by much and the back-swung axe glanced off her shoulder. She leapt back and then shot forward, using the umbrella to give her height, she got a good kick into the demon's face and then somersaulted to land lightly behind the demon with her umbrella open again as a shield to stop the axe. She spun in place, using the momentum to add impact to the blow she landed on the demon. But that merciless axe kept coming.

Cinder, letting all thoughts of Neo drop, called forth a magical sword and attacked Kashaahri using all the speed she could muster only to be blocked by the large shield. She diverted her charge, bounced off of a wall and came back in at different angle only to be parried by the paladin's blade. Coming to rest a few metres away she let go of her sword, summoned power and threw a fireball at the paladin. Then she summoned in two short swords and charged in again but now Emielice joined the fray.

"Keeping people who are attacking you alive is so difficult, so irritating." After saying that she cast a Fear upon Cinder who suddenly stopped moving, her eyes going wide in terror. "You alright with her?" she asked Kashaahri

"I'll be fine, just have to ensure I don't hit her with anything more than a love tap." Ahri pointed to Neo "Go see if she's changed her mind about dying."

The axe came again, and though Neo got her weapon up in time to block the axe it broke the umbrella, barely slowing and impacted her chest, throwing her onto her back. Blue arcing tendrils raced out across her as her Aura broke, she stood, stumbled, now only trying to get away. She tried to teleport again, but she didn't have enough energy and collapsed to the ground. It came to her then that she wasn't being attacked. She looked around to find that the demon had trotted back to its master who was making their own way to her. She drew a sharp breath, wondering how she'd missed it before power balance between them before. Despite the aura of menace from the demon and that it towered above the human woman there was no doubt as to who was in command, who had the power. And she couldn't even stand up to the demon.

Emielice crouched down beside the fallen woman, nodded to where Cinder and Kashaahri were back to fighting "Considering that she asked you to die with her she's not showing a great deal of concern for you." She looked questioningly at Neo who only looked back at her, fear in her eyes "Won't talk or can't talk?"

Neo considered then pointed at her mouth and made a chopping motion.

"Can't talk then." She nodded "Then listen. Ruby told us about her dealings with Roman and you. How he tried to kill her, how he helped bring about the grimm attack on Vale and, finally, how one of those grimm ate him. Roman's death is a direct result of his own actions. Actions that caused the death of uncounted innocents so we're really talking poetic justice here." Her eyes hardened "Now, I'm sure that you walked by his side the entire way and are only now having regrets about that as you lie here, defeated. Me, I'd be happy to slit your throat and be done with it. But Kashaahri is the forgiving type and thinks that we should offer you one, last, chance."

Neo's eyes widened and then she closed them as she nodded in understanding.

"Good. So, here's the deal. I'm going to keep my eye on you and if you walk the same path as you walked before I will find you and finish what we started tonight. Understand?"

Neo's eyes widened with fear but she nodded.

"Good." Emielice nodded to the Spider's lair "Talk to the manager, I'm sure that she will be willing to set you up with a new identity far, far away from trouble. For a reasonable price." With that she stood and walked back to the fight between Ahri and Cinder summoning another demon as she did so.

Cinder knew she was outclassed now. Even with her magic she could barely even touch the woman in front of her and even when she did it didn't seem to faze her at all. It had taken awhile but she now knew that the woman in front of her was also using magic. It was subtle and none of that magic had been directed at her. In fact, she hadn't been attacked at all and she realised that she was being kept here. Her power was low and she started looking about for a way to escape and while doing so she caught site of the other woman, the one with the strange ears, and her breath hissed out. In front of the other woman was a ball of power glowing bluish-white with arcs of purple lightning across it. Instinctively she knew it was for her and she started backing away when she felt a presence behind her. She turned and… looked into the most beautiful eyes she'd ever seen…

Kashaahri stepped back from the Seduced woman "You know, you could have done that from the beginning."

Emielice shrugged "I was expecting a fight and so had the felguard out. Got one too."

"How'd that go?"

"She's going to be Good… or else we finish what was started tonight."

Kashaahri nodded and then walked over to Allarae who looked at her but continued her chant "Looks like it's going to be awhile longer. How long can you keep the Seduce going?"

"Long enough but we probably don't want her gaining any power back as her weakened state will likely make it easier for Allarae."

The two stood silently, aware of the growing number eyes watching from the dark "You know" said Kashaahri "I don't think we meet your definition of competent criminals."

"True but, then, we're not criminals." She smiled benignly at Ahri "We're Adventurers and can Do No Wrong."

Kashaahri gave a short bark of a laugh "I wonder how the authorities here will view that."

"Oh, that's easy." Emielice brought out her Scroll and showed a news item about Cinder "They'll just take the credit for stopping a mass murderer and probably won't ask too many questions about how she became dead."

Behind them the chant stopped and they turned to the sweat beaded Allarae who panted "I'm going… to need you… release the Seduce. She needs… be in her own mind… for this… work."

Kashaahri nodded "I'll go make sure she can't escape, you release the Seduce, then Allarae hits her with that." Her eyes hardened "Then we finish her."

—

"So, they just left you here?" demanded Ruby

Fawn shrugged "It's only a single Maiden so I doubt if they even need three." She said and held up fingers in order "Allarae needed to go because she's our strongest mage and the spell to remove the power from the Maiden is going to require that strength. Emie went because it was her Eye that she summoned them to and Ahri is our leader and tank. Now, if you'll stand back, I need to prepare to summon them." She motioned Sapphire and Daalorisa to join her and began the casting. Within a few seconds the Summon Stone stood before all of them.

"That looks… evil." Said Ruby "Cool, but evil. What does it do?"

"It allows us to summon people from wherever they are to here. Just need to wait for them to let us know when they're ready."

"You scrolls work?" Ruby pulled her own scroll out of her pocket "I get no signal out this far."

"We have… other means of communication between us."

The wait was only a few minutes before Fawn, joined by Sapphire, placed their hands upon the Stone and Kashaahri stepped out of it followed a few seconds later by Emielice and Allarae. Allarae was controlling a glowing ball of magic that arced and spat. She looked around for Oscar and then walked over to his sleeping form and kicked him lightly "Oi, wake up."

Oscar stirred sleepily "What?"

"We need Ozpin. Can you kick him to the surface?"

"What?"

"I need Ozpin to give him his power back. Or I can just stick it with you and you can work it out with him later."

"I…" Oscar looked in to the glowing eyes of the elf "I'll try." He shifted to a meditative pose and closed his eyes. Nothing seemed to happen for a few minutes and then his eyes, flashing yellow, flew open "What do you want. Let me go. I've made too many mistakes, too many lies… I…"

"Shut it." Allarae's anger was palpable "You have, as you've pointed out, made many mistakes. More than any man, women or child on this world as I believe you put it. Those mistakes don't give you an excuse to evade your responsibilities."

"Salem cannot be stopped, she cannot be reasoned with, she…"

"We're not here to stop her." There was the sound of a mass of indrawn breath at Kashaahri's harsh words "We're here to protect the world and you know as well as we do that Salem's end goal is to destroy the world. She seeks her own death but her only course of action for that is to destroy the world as her curse says that 'she will live until the world stops turning'."

"We don't need to stop her." Said Fawn "We need to stop the gods and the only way we can do that is to call them here."

There was a stunned silence over the small camp until Sapphire said "We don't need to defeat Salem. We need to help her achieve the death that she so desperately wants while stopping the gods from destroying this world in a fit of pique brought about by their own mistakes."

"So, are you going to stop sulking and help us?" asked Allarae and he nodded "Then take back your power. You're going to need it."

—

Near dawn Elanna's prayer finally stopped and the silver moonlight light gave way to the gold light of the rising sun. Elanna staggered over to the campsite, transforming back into human form as she did so, took a drink of water "That was exhausting."

Ruby looked at her uncle "Is he…?"

"He's fine. Sleeping. He's likely to be doing that for the rest of the day so you'll probably want to move him to somewhere more comfortable." She shook her head "As I'm going to do with myself." As she staggered off to a place to sleep.

—

It was nearing dusk again when Qrow awoke from his deep slumber and staggered over to the pot of stew that was simmering on the fire.

"How do you feel uncle?" asked Ruby

He temporarily stopped shovelling food into his face and grouchily said "I feel fine."

"And your power?" asked Elanna

He looked at her then turned, spotted a rabbit and raised his hand. He was almost as shocked as the rest of the Remnants when a beam of moonlight struck the rabbit."

"And your bird form?"

"I…"

"Just try it."

He looked at her then turned took a couple of running steps before jumping and turning into a large purple raven. He took a couple of turns around the clearing and then landed "That felt… different."

"That's because it is different, brother." He looked to his sister "You no longer have the form that Ozpin gave you but fly as a more majestic beast. It seems, brother, that the ritual worked and that you now have control of your power. As I have although I lost my bird form."

"We will be able to teach you some of the things you need to know about magic and how it works before we leave in the morning." Said Elanna

"But I'm not a mage."

"No, you're not. You're a druid. Unfortunately, we don't have a druid here to teach you the finer points of being a druid and so we can only teach you generalities. Beyond that you're going to have to teach yourself."

"I'm not about to start praying to your goddess."

"Elune doesn't compel worshippers so I doubt that would be an issue." Said Allarae "And although Elune's power may have assisted in your realisation of being a druid, I don't think it was the major force. Druids are about nature and maintaining The Balance." She smiled "I believe that you're going to need to learn to meditate and listen to the World Soul. She needs protectors and it seems that she's chosen you as one." Allarae smiled benignly at him.

—


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter Eleven - Summer's Arrival**

The room hushed as Salem walked in, the room tense as she walked to her place and sat down. "Sit." All except the two children did so. She motioned to the two chairs at the end of a table where Cinder had once sat "Please, sit. We are all friends here."

Watts started to speak but she held up her hand. "Of course, my queen."

"Cinder is lost to us and the Fall powers as well."

"She… she's dead?" Demanded Emerald, shaken by the news

"Very much so."

"May we ask what happened?" Rumbled Hazel

"She was killed by a new element that has joined the fray. A powerful group that I do not know." She glanced around the room and her voice was cold "I was watching as she was planning to betray me when this group attacked and dealt with both her and the other, the one called Neo."

"You need me to find the new Fall Maiden?" asked Watts

"No, there is no new Fall Maiden. I need you to go to Mistral and find any information of this new group. Where they came from, where they are and where they're going."

"How can there be no new Fall Maiden?"

"One of this new group tore the power from Cinder and then contained it. What they did with it after that I do not know as my scrying ended with the death of Cinder but I do not feel the existence of a new Maiden."

"And me, my queen?" grinned Tyrian "Am I still to bring you the girl with silver eyes?"

"No, you and Hazel will go to Vacuo, find the Summer Maiden and bring her to me. If she won't come, then kill her. We need to slow down Ozpin's gathering of the Relics if we can't have them." She then turned to the children "You will go to Atlas and watch the academy there. Report to me if anyone tries to access the Relic held at the academy."

"But… Atlas is closed, how are we…"

"You will find a way or you will fail." Salem's tone left no doubt as to what would happen to the two if they failed.

"And the White Fang?" asked Hazel

"They are of no use to us now with the rise of the Belladonna's leadership, since the failure at Haven and none will follow Adam Taurus after his betrayal even if he is still alive. Unless they get in your way, leave them."

"Understood."

—

"Reminds me of Tanaris." Said Allarae as they stood looking out over the desert with the port behind them.

"Aye" agreed Kashaahri "From before the Cataclysm."

"What's Tanaris?" asked Fawn

"A desert area at the southern point of Kalimdor." Answered Elanna "It, too, had a small port on the coast with the main centre inland. Before the Cataclysm. Afterwards the small port was gone and the main centre became the port."

"You've mentioned the Cataclysm before." Said Sapphire "What caused it?"

"Deathwing, once the Earth Warder Neltharion, rose from his slumber to take his revenge upon the world, shattering it in the process. Continents cracked with some parts subsiding deep below the sea and some rising."

"We need to search for the Summer maiden." Interrupted Kashaahri "I suggest that we split as we did in Mistral and ask the locals. Meet back here at dusk."

"She's likely to be keeping herself hidden as I did." Said Sapphire "The locals won't know that she's a Maiden but they will know of a wandering woman who comes through every now and then and offers help, usually hunting grimm or assisting with other chores. It's how one keeps hidden."

"I would have expected Winter to be in and around Atlas." Said Fawn as the two walked off together while the others paired off and went their own ways.

"And I spent a lot of time there but after two or three years of nothing but ice and snow you need to see some green." Sapphire grinned "Besides, being where you're not expected to be is another way of hiding."

—

The two walked up the barely defined path towards the last farm upon it. Leaning on the fence was the farmer with a sword upon his hip who turned as he became aware of them approaching, his hand coming to rest upon the hilt.

"What can I do for a pair of city girls?" he asked

Fawn came to a stop, clasping her staff with with both hands but was stopped from speaking her mind as Sapphire's hand came down on her shoulder "We're looking for a friend of ours. She comes through every now and then, helps out for a bit before riding off again."

"Uh uh, and what's her name?"

"Couldn't say. She changes it fairly often and doesn't draw attention to herself."

"Can't say I know anybody that disreputable." He said as his hand wrapped around the hilt of his sword

"Nothing disreputable at all. Honest as the day is long." Sapphire smiled at him "She comes in, does some honest work, hunting grimm or doing some chores, gets paid and leaves again. Would be a licenced Hunter." She showed her own Hunter licence

"Not all Hunters are reputable."

"True but this one would be."

"Uhuh, and what does this Huntress look like?"

"Couldn't tell you that either."

"Are you sure that you're her friends?" he asked, "You don't know her name nor what she looks like."

"We're her friends… we just haven't met yet." He scowled at her but she went on before he could say anything "Your fields look like they could do with some water."

Although nonplussed by the non sequitur he answered "Aye. Got a tanker coming in a couple of days but…" his words trailed off as he swept his hand indicating the fields.

Sapphire nodded and then stepped towards the fence, gathering power as she did. Whispering a chant, she drew upon what she had learned as Winter and the teachings of Allarae and caused a light rain to fall upon the fields. "That will fall until dusk and should be enough to keep your fields going until your tanker gets here."

"How…?"

"As the World Soul wakens magic is returning to the world, old man." said Fawn "It won't just be the Maiden's with power anymore."

He spun to her, eyes wide "She's a Maiden?"

"She is."

He scowled, his hand still upon his sword "I heard myths from a few old folks when I was a Hunter. Tales of the Maidens being hunted for their power which resulted in their power being lost."

"True." Said Sapphire as she waved towards the rain "But we already have power and neither need nor want any more. In fact, we're looking for her to save her life, to protect her from those who so hunt her now."

He looked at Fawn again and she shrugged "I do fire. Not much good for fields dying of thirst."

He nodded and dropped his hand from his sword "She comes through here every now and then as you say. Calls herself Summer, wears a white cloak with hood." He eyed the long, hood-less robes of the two "Kinda needed around these parts if you don't want to cook your brains."

Sapphire smiled at him "We'll keep that in mind."

He nodded and went on while indicating the south "She usually comes in from the south around the end of harvest and then heads out towards Vacuo afterwards." He glanced at both of them "I don't know any more than that."

"That's more than we could have hoped for." Said Sapphire as she called forth her mount "Hope you have a good harvest." Then she and Fawn leapt into the sky.

—

The group met up again just as dusk was falling.

"Anybody else have any luck?" Asked Kashaahri

Allarae shook her head "Most suspicious bunch of people I've ever met. Would barely even say hello." She grumbled

"Most of what we got was that there's always someone wandering through and that it could be any of them." Said Elanna "Just didn't have a good enough description and people were suspicious of us as well."

"A farmer told us that her name's Summer and that she usually comes through about now." Fawn met at the Azerothian's looks and shrugged "He became friendly after Sapphire flashed her Hunter ID and made rain fall on his crop."

"She comes in from the south he said." Said Sapphire

"South is a big place and it's all desert. It's the very definition of 'trackless wastes'" Said Kashaahri

"But we'll be flying and a lone rider is going to stand out against the sand."

"Not if she's wearing white against the white sand. Still, it's the best we've got." Kashaahri looked towards the darkening sky "We'll ride out a bit further, make camp for the night and head south with the dawn."

—

Summer was moving across the desert, her sense of danger rising as she rode on. The heat haze above the sands hid things from her but she was sure that she had seen two people walking her way. Deciding to take heed of her danger sense she had altered her course away from them but she was sure that they'd followed. Now she paused as she noted some _things_ flying in the distance.

Then her danger sense screamed at her and she ducked, bringing her staff around just in time to deflect the metallic tail that had struck out at her. She heard a demented laugh behind her as she spurred her horse forward. She had gone but a few metres when a large man, Dust crystals jammed into his arms, rose up out of the sand in front of her. She swerved to avoid him but he merely stepped in front of her horse again. Knowing that she wouldn't be able to avoid him she spurred her horse again getting another boost in speed and then, as the horse impacted him and came to a stop she jumped, somersaulting over him. She landed and spun to face her opponents.

"Who are you and what do you want?" She demanded although she was sure that she new the answer.

"Why, how rude of us Hazel, we haven't introduced ourselves to the Maiden." He laughed again, the sound carrying the tones of insanity "And we've come to take you to our queen who has requested your presence." He bowed as he finished but then his tail lashed out again.

She blocked that and the follow up attack from his fist and then swung her staff with as much speed and force she could muster impacting upon his ribs and throwing him back. They knew she was a Maiden and so there was no point in holding back. She spun again and brought the tip of her staff hard into the chest of the large man who made no sign that he had even felt the hit as he kept moving toward her. She leapt back again, coming to rest several metres away and a couple of metres up off the ground.

"I really don't want to make the acquaintance of your mistress."

"We don't want to hurt you but you will be coming with us." Said Hazel

"Well, big man, I don't to hurt you either but I will if you do not cease and desist." She sent a jet of flame at him, striking him in the chest with it. He roared and took two powerful steps forward and then launched himself at her. She swung her staff at him, using its length to prevent him closing with her, using his momentum to push her further away. It was only the insane laughter coming from her side that allowed her to deflect the metallic tail again but she missed the fist and got slammed to the ground.

The laughter followed and so did the tail, striking her this time and she felt the poison flow into her almost immediately. The tail was followed by another striking fist and she got thrown back again.

She tumbled for a bit before she regained her feet and brought her staff up again. She felt her Aura crackling around her and knew she wouldn't be able to take many more hits like that. Then a hand came to rest on her shoulder and she spun, looking up into a kind face and glowing eyes as she felt the poison leave her body "Who?"

"Stay back, we've got this." Said the mountain of a woman as she moved past, unlimbering her sword and shield, her white and gold armour glinting in the sun. Summer looked around as she realised that there was several people now standing around her - all of whom radiated power.

—

Kashaahri came to a stop and eyed up the two men "You're with Salem?"

"Yes." Rumbled the large man.

"Our queen has requested the presence of yonder girl" stated the tall, slim one "and our queen must not be disappointed." Then he darted forward, angling straight for the Summer Maiden, weapon extended.

Kashaahri stepped left, placing her shield in Tyrian's way while behind her the Maiden suddenly disappeared in an explosion of white petals.

Tyrian's insane laughter echoed over the contestants as he rebounded from the shield, continuing his pursuit of the Maiden. He didn't make it very far, though, as twin Frost Novas caught him and froze him in place, his Aura sparking. Then the Ice Lances struck, Shattering the ice around him. He crashed to the ground and moved no more.

Kashaahri looked to the remaining minion "You must be Hazel."

He nodded

Kashaahri introduced them and then "Ozpin tells us that you're a good man, hurt by the death of his sister." She paused, looking at the Dust still embedded in his arms "But a good man should be asking why he's helping Salem destroy the world, why he's sentencing all the innocent men, women and children of this world to death just because of his own pain." His eyes widened at he assertion "Oh, she didn't tell you that? That she seeks her death and that that can only happen with the destruction of the world?" He looked uncomfortable "We need you to take a message to your mistress. Tell her that we will be at the Pools of Annihilation with all four Relics in the near future. That we will help her with her death but that we will not allow the destruction of the world."

He nodded at her and then left.

—

Kashaahri watched as the he walked away then turned back to the Summer Maiden "How are you?"

"Shaken and thankful for the rescue. I don't think I would have survived much longer." Summer looked at the group around her "My name's Summer."

"You would have survived although you probably would have been unconscious. Salem has no use for you dead as then she wouldn't have been able to get hold of the Relic at Shade Academy."

"I did think it strange that there were no women in the group attacking me. My power won't go to men." Her eyes narrowed "But then you said that you were after the Relic as well."

"Yes, we're after the Relic and, yes, we need you to get it. It would be easier and faster if we could go there now but we can go to Oscar and the rest of them so that Ozpin can explain."

Summer looked thoughtful then gasped "So, this is the endgame, where Salem is finally defeated?"

"You seem to be well informed of things." said Sapphire "Ozpin never told me that much."

Summer turned to her "And who are you?"

"My name is Sapphire but I was once the Winter Maiden. Ozpin only told me why I needed to hide and nothing about his eternal fight with Salem."

"How could you _once_ be the Winter Maiden? I'm sure that it's for life and I still feel power about you."

"I met my outland friends here, whom I'm sure you can also feel power from, who taught me about my power and then helped me return the Maiden's power to the Wizard. After returning it I could still do magic. The same was true for the Spring Maiden and will probably be true for you."

"You want me to return it as well?"

"We do." Said Kashaahri "And so does the Wizard. He's going to need it for when he confronts the gods."

"One thing that Ozpin never told you, Miss Rose, was that Salem can't be defeated." Said Allarae

Summer spun, her staff rising into a guard position, and confronted the Night Elf "How do you know my name?"

"You look like your daughter, you both use the same symbol although yours is grey rather than red and the petals are a dead giveaway. I can only assume that your supposed death was to help hide you from Salem."

"You…" Summer swallowed "You know my daughter?"

"We do." Said Kashaahri "Ruby is a strong fighter, a good leader with a strong sense of justice and she's presently travelling with Oscar, Qrow and a few others to pick up the Relics at Atlas and Beacon."

"Who's Oscar?"

"He's the young man who's carrying the present incarnation of Ozpin."

"Ok…" She was thoughtful for a bit then "What do you mean that Salem can't be defeated?"

"Many thousands of years ago the gods cursed her with life until the world stopped turning. Until then she can't be killed or stopped."

"And you're going to use the Relics to call the gods?"

"Yes."

"Why, when its so dangerous?"

"We believe that the only way to prevent the gods from destroying the world, and thus the World Soul, is to have them remove Salem's curse and allow her to die. Doing so would remove the main aggressive element in your society."

"This World Soul… what is it?"

"Exactly that, the soul of the world. We've been sent by Elune from our own world to protect it."

"Even against the gods?"

"Especially against the gods." Kashaahri face grew grim "Gods and titans have an irritating tendency to think that they're not accountable for their actions."

Summer's eyes widened as she finally realised that the being in front of her, who was so casually talking about confronting the gods, was expecting to win.

—

The team had decided to make an entrance into Shade Academy and were all riding a drake. From Daal's transformation into the Sandstone Drake so that Summer could ride to Ahri's Twilight drake, the flight of dragons drew eyes from everywhere and both students and teachers came running, weapons drawn, as they landed in the academy's courtyard. A stir rolled across those gathered there as the drakes disappeared leaving eight people.

The headmaster moved forward "Who are you?"

"Are you the headmaster?" asked Kashaahri

"I am."

"Then I have this letter of introduction for you." She smiled "After you've read it I suggest we go inside. What we need to discuss is not for the ears of the general population yet."

The headmaster took the letter and read it, then looked up, his eyes squinting as if he could read anything from her face "I agree that this needs discussing in private." He said "Follow me."

—

"So, if this is so secret, why did you make such a loud entrance?"

"Easiest way to get your attention."

He looked at her, stunned for a bit, then laughed. "Ok, I'll agree with that." His laughter subsided quickly "Now, according to this note you need access to the Relic which means you need the Summer Maiden." He paused again as Summer moved forward and drew down her hood "Miss Rose, it's been awhile and, considering context, I suppose that explains why reports of your death were greatly exaggerated."

"It has been headmaster and, yes, my death was feigned to protect me and my family."

"Understood. I hear that there was two… people… looking for you. Did they find you?"

"They did but they went their own way once it was made plain that I wasn't going with them."

"I see." He looked concerned "Now, the Relic…"

"Has been hidden away to prevent use of it, I know, but we're now entering the endgame and we may, finally, have what we need to rid ourselves of the Queen of the Grimm."

"Then I suggest that we be about retrieving it."

—

" _Qrow, we've got the Relic from Shade and the Summer Maiden. Whereabouts, are you?"_

" _We've got the Relic from Atlas and are now at Patch awaiting you."_

" _Good. Allarae's presently discussing where to put the teleportation terminus with the headmaster. So, expect us in about an hour."_

" _Will do. We're organising transportation to Beacon. When you get here, we'll be able to head straight there."_

" _Good, see you soon."_

—


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter Twelve - Return To Beacon**

Ruby was on edge, her uncle Qrow had got a communication from the Azerothians that they were on their way back but had then pulled both Oscar and her father aside to talk. There had been some loud remonstrations from the room that they'd gone to and then they'd all come here, to the new portal room at Patch Academy to wait. Yang stood with her with the rest of Team RWBY behind them. Team JNR was off to one side with Raven. Qrow stood with her father and Oscar and the youngsters could feel the tension between them but none of them understood it.

Kashaahri appeared first and then stepped away from the portal zone, her eyes scanning the area for threats. Following her came the other Draenei and then the mage and then someone of short stature, wearing a white cloak. Kashaahri spoke up "I introduce the Summer Maiden." She was looking at Ruby as she spoke "Your mother."

Ruby felt the pit of her stomach drop, her eyes widen as the white hood dropped back "Mom?" then the two came together in a spray of red and white petals. "I've missed you."

"I've missed you too." While still holding tight Summer looked up and around "Yang?"

Yang stood, stunned for a second but then, she too, ran forward to hug the only mother she'd truly known "Mom."

The three of them stood quiet in the embrace for a while before Summer withdrew, tears in her eyes "We've got so much to talk about." Then she turned "Tai, I…"

Tai stood there, shock, anger and hurt crossing his face as she came to stand before him "Why?"

"I had to, to protect the family. You know what happens to Maidens when they're found out."

"I…" They stood like that for several seconds, just looking at each other, not saying anything.

"Sheesh, just kiss and make up already." Said Raven "You know you're going to anyway and we have work to do and not a lot of light left to do it in."

The two long lost lovers looked at Raven and then back to each other, cheeks colouring, smiled shyly and hugged "We have much to talk about." Said Tai

"We do." Said Summer "But Raven's right, we need to finish this and then we'll have all our lives to talk about it."

—

They stood upon the landing apron at Beacon watching as grimm walked about the grounds.

"They seem to be looking for something." Said Kashaahri

"Most likely the Relic." Said Ozpin "Cinder probably managed to open the gate to its storage but wouldn't have been able to find it there as its also hidden behind my magic."

"But isn't it all your magic?" asked Blake

"Yes, but when I gave my power to the Maidens I made each different, with different abilities inherent within them. These differences were integral to the gateways which is why each gate required a specific Maiden. My magic, even the depleted magic that I had after I created the Maiden powers, doesn't have those limitations and so I was able to enter the gate here and create another hide for the Relic within the gate. That hide is more complex and keyed specifically to me. Even Salem, who's an accomplished mage herself, would not be able to find it if she came here."

"We're going to have to split up." Said Elanna "We need to clear all the grimm from around here and that large one is about ready to break out from it's stone prison."

"Aye." Said Kashaahri "That big one will be for us to deal with." She looked to Ozpin "And you?"

"Yes, you'll need me to take you to the lower levels once it's dealt with."

"Where is the gateway?" asked Yang

"In the halls beneath the academy. Jaune knows the way."

"Good." Said Kashaahri "We'll move towards the tower, grab the big one and bring it down in that large square over there. RBY, JNR and STRQ spread out and take care of the other grimm wandering around. Remember that Jaune can heal so if you're injured find him. Once you've finished clearing the area join up in the front hall and head down, clearing as you go. We'll meet you down there once we've dealt with the big one."

"I can heal as well." Everyone looked to Summer and she shrugged "Part of the Maiden powers." She paused, a thoughtful look on her face "Will I be able to heal after I've given these powers back?"

"Probably." Said Raven "I've still got similar capabilities to what I had as the Spring Maiden. What the Azerothians are calling a Fire Mage."

"Something to be discussed when we get to Shade Academy." Said Kashaahri "For now, let's finish here."

They all nodded and headed off to their assigned tasks.

—

As the three teams from Remnant left Kashaahri turned to Ozpin "Is there anything you know about that big bird? What capabilities that it has?"

"Not much, I'm afraid. It came out of the mountain, shattering it, so we have to assume that it's strong. It drops eggs as it flies that spawn more grimm. I don't know if it does that when it's on the ground or not or when its fighting. We didn't get to fight it during the attack on Vale."

"Ok then." Kashaahri considered "I'll pull it down into the square and drag it towards the cliff then I'll turn it left so that it's facing that building over there. The rest of you come in from behind and hit it with everything you've got. Treat it like a dragon and do not get close to its tail or in front of its wings." She turned to the warlocks "We'll need you two ready to pick up any spawns with your pets. If a spawn does appear then it needs to die ASAP." Everyone nodded in silent acknowledgement "Other than that we're playing this one by ear. Keep an eye on what's going on around you and be ready to dodge and assist as needed."

"How do you expect to break the stone?" asked Ozpin

"A shield toss should finish the breaking and get the beasts attention on me. I'm more concerned with placing it so that it doesn't really have a choice in taking to the sky once it's down." She looked down at the small man "All the others have ranged attacks. If you have ranged attacks then I suggest you use them rather than getting close. Else, choose your own attacks as you see fit and watch your footing."

Ozpin nodded to her and she walked off towards the tower and the beast.

—

Kashaahri walked towards the beast, taking in the lay of the land and estimating her best path once she had the beast's attention. She got in range and, looked up into the glowing, red eyes of the beast, checked the striations of the breaking stone for the best place to strike. Choosing her target, she spun and released her shield, putting as much into the toss as possible. The shield flew true and struck at the shoulder of the beast breaking off some of the stone and deepening the cracks around the whole body.

The beast threw back its head and let loose a loud, angry, scream at the pain. The movement, along with the already widening cracks, caused the stone to fully break away. It fell, spreading its wings to try to regain balance throwing the stone everywhere, then it's foot struck the ground and it used the leverage it had to launch itself at Kashaahri.

Kashaahri was now calmly walking backwards towards the cliff, keeping an eye on the beast and what it was doing while adding a few more attacks to keep its attention. Throwing her shield once again she started to angle herself towards where she wanted the fight held.

The beast stopped, screamed again, and then leapt a short distance into the air to give it room to bring its wings down in an attack. When it came down again it charged at the small speck that had caused it so much pain.

Kashaahri smiled to herself as the simple blast from its wings pushed her back to where she wanted to be. She lay down her Consecration and met the beast's charge with her shield, smashing the beak to one side, her sword following to strike the beast just below the eyes.

Then battle was truly joined as the others began their attacks. The darkening sky was lit up as the warlock's twin Incinerates landed only to darken again as Elanna, in full Void Form, struck out with a Mind Flay. Then cold began to radiate out as the mages began their own attacks.

Ozpin sidled up to Daalorisa "And what do you do in this… dance?"

"I keep my allies in combat alive." She snapped her fingers, causing a Riptide to splash over Ahri "But I don't think my skills are going to be called upon much with this one. That beast isn't doing a lot of damage to Ahri and it's ignoring the rest of us."

At that point the beast screamed again. Took a step back and leapt up, its wings coming down in the same attack as before but this time two globules of Darkness dropped from under it as well. When the Darkness struck the ground two Boarbatusks emerged from the ground and charged the group.

"Oops, spoke too soon." As she cast Healing Rain across the ranged group and then Chain Lightning to strike both of the spawns. The warlocks glanced across, spoke quietly with each other and then their felguards charge in, each one engaging one of the spawns and keeping its attention on them.

Ozpin's eyes narrowed "Mine" he said and then he was in melee with the Boarbatusks, laying about with his cane.

—

Team JNR looked across as the beast roared "Do you think we should go help them?" asked Nora

They looked on for a bit, watching as Oscar took on the Boarbatusks "I think they've got it." Said Ren

Jaune shook his head "Our job is to prevent any other grimm from attacking them from behind while they deal with that one. So, let's get on with our patrol."

—

"Oh, wow, look at that." Ruby's exclamation caused the rest of Team RWBY to look towards the fight.

As they looked the mighty beast landed and its beak struck down at the loan figure in front of it only for the attack to simply be deflected by the Draenei's shield.

"Despite my ability to take a pounding I don't think I could take that." Said Yang as she shook her head

"I suppose that is what they call a tank. Someone who takes the punishment while the others actually defeat the monster." Ruby quickly cast the spell that the Azerothians had taught them and shook her head "She barely took any damage from that." Then she let the spell go - without magic the spell chewed Dust.

"Which is not our job. It's our job to eliminate all the other grimm here. Now let's go." Weiss tapped her foot impatiently

"Yeah, let's go. The faster we finish this the faster we can get back and help." Ruby enthused

"After we've finished this we need to head down into the unknown bowls of the Academy to clear the way to the Relic."

"Ok, ok" Ruby glanced back "But it'd be so cool to help beat that beast."

—

Team STRQ also turned to watch as the Azerothians attack upon the monster. They stood quietly, observing as professionals how the Azerothians controlled the fight. It became clear to them rather quickly that the beast was outmatched in both tactics and strength. Its attacks upon Kashaahri were mostly turned aside and even when they did connect fully the amount of damage done was minimal. Ozpin and the warlock's pets had the beast's spawns under control and the rest of the group was slowly, but surely, damaging the beast toward death. It was just a matter of time.

"When Sapphire told me that the wizard's power was a crutch and that I'd become more powerful without it." Summer almost whispered "I didn't believe her."

"I didn't really have a choice." Summer sent a questioning look towards Raven "They attacked the Branwen tribe and wiped it out, taking me prisoner. Their power is strong."

"They had good cause." Said Qrow

"We really didn't mean for Shione to fall."

"I don't think the villagers would be willing to accept your assertions of innocence." Qrow sneered "And it really wasn't just Shione. The Branwen tribe have been attacking the people and villages of Anima for decades. It was only a matter of time before this happened as more and more of the world became tamed by the Hunters. You should have realised that when we first got to Beacon and then changed the path of the tribe when you became leader."

"I did what I thought was right for the tribe."

"You continued the 'strong survive' credo of the tribe despite that credo being shown as no longer valid by the strength and peace of the kingdoms and at the academy."

"You two, quit it." Said Tai "We have a job to do." He looked over to the fight again "But they are far more powerful than anybody I've ever come across before. Maybe strong enough to compel the gods."

They took one more look at the fight and then turned back to their own patrol.

—

The Azerothians stumbled out of the ruined lift into a vast hallway in the lowest floor of the building. Sounds of fierce fighting came from in front of them and they rushed forward to help the other teams finish of the grimm that surrounded the large gateway into a realm of autumn coloured trees. They went to step through the gate way but Ozpin called for them to stop "The realm can only hold one person and that person is going to have to be me."

"What happens if more than one enters?" asked Allarae

"The realm collapses and everything in it is… lost."

"Define 'lost'" said Fawn

"Distributed randomly across the world. It would take a long time to find the Relic again and for the people so displaced to make their way back to anywhere." The others nodded and then looked to Kashaahri

"From here we're heading to the Pools of Annihilation and the shortest way is through Shade Academy." Said Kashaahri "Sapphire and Allarae can open portals to Shade so that most of us can go through. Allarae and I will stay as protection and as a means to get to Shade ourselves."

"I'm going to need my magic from Summer before I go in. With the power of three of the Maidens returned to me my magic isn't quite as… balanced… as it needs to be to open the cage that the Relic is in."

"Then Summer stays as well." Kashaahri turned to the mages "Get those portals open and our people on their way."

—

Ozpin walked up to the pedestal upon which the Relic had once sat and then sat down in a lotus position _"I'm sorry to have to do this to you Oscar."_

" _I have your knowledge so I know what you need to do Old Man."_ Said Oscar _"Just promise to wake me up after you've finished."_

" _You have my word but…"_

" _I know, there's a chance I won't be coming back."_ And then he was gone.

Ozpin sat, humbled by the willing sacrifice of one so young, one who really didn't wish to lose his life, one who had so much to live for. "I will do all that I can to make sure you have your life back." He whispered to himself.

Having done all he could for the boy he now raised his hands and started weaving his magic. It was difficult as he had to match power for power, weave for weave and he hadn't been this powerful in thousands of years. The weaving continued until he had the outer shell of the cage defined and then he began a chant making the weave even more complex. Slowly a mirror image of himself appeared and when it was complete his weaving and chanting stopped.

"Who am I?" asked the mirror image

"I am Oscar who was once Ozpin who was once…" the list went on for some time as he recited the names of all his incarnations "…who was once Ozma." A key that only one person knew as only one person knew all of his incarnations and as the last fell from his lips the image bowed and disappeared leaving the Relic standing upon its pedestal.

Ozpin sat and waited. Then he sent a silent command _"Return"_ but the boy was too deep to hear. Getting no response he stood and returned to the others. "Let us depart."

—

The team leaders sat around the table with Ozpin and the Shade Academy Headmaster. They'd just finished explaining all that had happened throughout history starting with Salem's deception of the gods which resulted in her becoming cursed with immortality 'until the world stops turning'.

"And so she's spent however many thousands of years causing discord just so that she can die?" asked the headmaster, a look of sheer disbelief on his face

"Yes." Said Ozpin "She has to cause two things to happen. The first is a constant state discord and war between the people and then to bring the Relics together and summon the gods. Once the gods are summoned they'll see the constant state of discord and thus destroy the world, killing Salem in the process."

"We're not the most peaceful of people Ozpin. The faunus and humanity have been fighting throughout history and then there's the fighting that happens between factions as well such as happened during the Great War."

"Actually" said Kashaahri "The peoples of Remnant are some of the most peaceful people I've met since the fall of my own people. Most of the violence that happens between people is more the actions of criminals than outright discord between them and, as long as people have freedom of choice, such malcontents will always exist."

"Do you think the gods will see it that way though?"

"Considering the Relics of Power, of Destruction, Choice, Knowledge and Creation that they left behind as gifts for us they should do." Said Summer "As Kashaahri says, as long as people have choice there's going to be some who choose a… less peaceful… path."

"The major point is that a lot of the discord that happens is a result of _their_ choices. The curse that they imposed upon Salem and, of course, the grimm." Said Kashaahri "To bring peace to the peoples of this world requires that those need to be removed."

"So, you're confident that things will go well?" asked the headmaster

"We're as confident as we can be." Said Ozpin

"So then it's now a question of transport there then and a question of how many of you are going."

"All of us are going." Said Kashaahri "We're going to need everyone to show how well everyone works together and, if things don't go well, to defeat them by main force."

"You actually think you can defeat them? According to your tale the last time anyone tried that they wiped out all of humanity."

"Yes we do. We've defeated gods before and things have changed since then. The gods will find that your peoples are not the pushovers that they once were."

The room went silent upon her grim assertion

"I know where Salem's castle is." Ozpin went silent "I helped her build it after all." He paused again, ancient pain written across his face "And the only way there is going to be by air and so we're going to need either and airbus or an airship."

"The academy has access to an airbus that you can use but I'm not going to provide a pilot. There's no way I'd ask anyone to volunteer for such a suicide mission."

"Huh, I don't think finding a pilot will be much of an issue." Said Qrow

The headmaster looked at him "As you say." He turned back to Ozpin "I can have it ready for you in the morning."

"That would be much appreciated."

"The morning after." Said Kashaahri "We've a lot to do in preparation before we head out."

—

The teams retired to the suit of rooms made available to them. There they congregated in the large lounge. Once everyone was there Kashaahri stood "We need to talk gear and what we can do to replace yours."

All the Remnant teams looked around at each other before Blake spoke up "I'm quite happy with my gear. It allows me to move as I need and my weapon suits my fighting style." There were nods and murmurs of agreement from the assembled teams.

"But does your gear increase your… power… by 200%?" asked Fawn

"No, of course not. To get anything like that would mean weaving Dust into the gear and nobody does that anymore as its too dangerous, too wild and uncontrollable."

"Mine does." Fawn looked around at the stunned looks of the other Remnants "All of ours does."

"Fawn's right." Said Allarae "All of our gear incorporates magic and that includes having Dust as part of its materials."

"How do you do that?" asked Summer "Blake was right when she said that it was too dangerous."

"We have different techniques from those of Remnant. The Dust become part of the material itself instead of being woven into the cloth as you're used to. Each piece then has fixed ability increases build into it. This means that you don't need to control it the way that woven Dust needs to be controlled."

"And it's not just your armour either." Said Elanna "But weapons and jewellery as well. The end result is that approximately two thirds of your power will come from your gear."

"Between us we can make cloth, leather and" Kashaahri banged on her chest plate "Metal armour. I can make most weapons that you may want to use while Allarae can make you jewellery and guns. It is this that we need to discuss so that we can plan on getting the materials and making the gear tomorrow." Her eyes narrowed, her voice becoming harder "Once we've finished with you this group will be the most powerful on Remnant and nothing will stand in our way."

Silence echoed around the room until Ruby stated "Just so long as I can have a combat skirt."

—


End file.
